Crimson Rogue
by Zagger the Bloody Angel
Summary: Sent from Konoha as a child, loved by the Cloud and ruler of the Whirlpool, Uzumaki struggles with his duties and the problems of his life. Naruto/OC
1. Chapter 1

I Do Not Own Naruto

* * *

(Sarutobi's Point of View)

It was the hardest decision of my life. I never once thought that I would have to do this to a young boy. But my hands were tied and there was nothing I could do.

If I gave in to the demands of the council, they would turn a newborn into a weapon. But if I didn't, the council would gather the support of the population and execute the poor child. Sure, I had the power to over turn the decision at any point, but the boy's life would be hell every day of his life.

And all of this was because he was their savoir… A child that had a great burden sealed within him. The burden of being the demon vessel of Kyuubi no Kitsune.

Now, some would say as Hokage I had infinite power. But that isn't true. The Hokage is the leader of the military and the village. But even though I am chosen as Hokage, the people of the village have the power to revoke what I say if there seven of the ten council members, that they elect, veto my decision. The only way around that was when it involved a life… Which thankfully this case did.

But, I wasn't going to be limited to just two options. I am Hokage and my power stretches far beyond the land of fire.

"You called me, Lord Hokage?"

I knew the voice well. It was the voice of Hatake Kakashi, a thirteen year old jounin. He was a genius, becoming a shinobi at the age of six and advancing at an incredible rate underneath the now deceased Yondaime Hokage's tutelage.

Taking a puff of my pipe, I sighed deeply as I looked at the young boy. "Kakashi, I have a mission of the utmost importance for you to partake. It can only be you as you are the only one I trust will see this to be done. If you fail… I'm afraid you have failed not only me, but you fail your deceased sensei."

Kakashi instantly stood at attention. I could tell he was nervous as he was never handed a mission with this much riding on it. But I knew he could handle it. Despite his age, he was one of the best shinobi of this village. "I want you to take these papers and this newborn… The one that Kyuubi was sealed within… To the hidden village of the Cloud and deliver the boy to the Raikage personally."

I could see the look of shock on Kakashi's face I told him of the mission. Of course he wouldn't understand why I was doing this. He was one of the few that actually knew that the young boy was his sensei's child. But there was no time to tell him as the council members would be here any minute to receive my answer. "Kakashi, you must do it now. There is no time and the child's life is at risk if you do not leave now."

That was all that was needed to be said as Kakashi picked up the papers and sealed them away into a scroll before gently lifting up his sensei's son from his cradle.

As he opened the window, ready to leave, I stopped him and gave him one last word. "…You will be chased out of this village… But under no circumstances must you give up the boy… Even if you have to kill your fellow Konoha shinobi. I will personally see to it that you will be exalted of any crime you may commit on this mission and if not, I am sure the Raikage will take you in as a refugee… Now go!"

Kakashi nodded, even if his one visible eye widened, before shoving off the balcony and to the roof tops below. I knew it was a gamble, but there was no choice. I had to protect the young boy no matter what. Even if it was from the village he had saved for being born. If only the people of the village could understand that.

Almost after a full moment, the door opened to reveal my three biggest opposition within the council. My two ex-teammates and my former rival for Hokage, Danzo. I could only smirk at them as they looked in the cradle and saw the son the Yondaime Hokage was no longer there. "You are too late… Did you actually think I was going to allow you to anything like that to Minato's son?"

Danzo frowned at me and was ready to leave the room. But as he was about to leave, he turned back to me and spoke in an icy cold tone. "This is the last straw for you, _Sandaime._ Even if it takes me ten years, I will gather everything I can to get you thrown out of office…"

He couldn't even finish as I begun to laugh. Seeing his look along with both of my teammates, I feint wiping my eye as I looked at all three of them. "Please, you could spend eternity and find very little on me… And even if you did, I have more then enough to keep any of you three from becoming Hokage and even more to have you thrown in jail forever!"

"Do not test me as I already ten steps ahead of you. Now leave here at once or I may decide that I will throw all three of you in jail this instant." My statement was punctuated by my most trusted Anbu appearing besides me, hearing what I had said and ready to enforce my will as each agreed with my decision.

Even if they wanted to resist, they knew better. They might have the power to escape, but I would personally hunt them down and even send Jiraiya after them if necessary. I know he would have no problem doing so.

Watching them leave, I sighed deeply before I began to probe my desk for my pipe and my first addition of Icha-Icha Paradise. It was already my first day back in office and hell was about to start.

But before I start reading and light my pipe, I turn to the captain of the squad before nodding to him. "Hiashi, take your unit follow Danzo and be prepared to execute him necessary if he sends any of his root Anbu after Kakashi."

The captain simply gave me a nod before disappearing with the rest of his squad. I knew they would carry out my orders, damned of the consequences. They all had ties with Minato and Kushina and if anyone would endanger their child, there would be hell to pay.

(Sarutobi's POV End)

* * *

Kakashi was quite surprised that he had ran into very little resistance. There were the guards at the gate, but a quick genjutsu had taken the three gennin out. Under normal circumstances they would have had chunin or a jounin guarding the gate, however do to Kyuubi's attack their numbers were low so they had to work with what they had.

But now he knew he had some trouble coming. He could sense that there was an entire squad chasing him, ever so slowly gaining ground on him. He had thrown almost every trick he had at them to try and give them the slip. But they managed to get by it, whether it be a genjutsu or scattering dozens of Shadow Clones.

The only good news was that he had made it into the land of Lighting so that there was a chance they would break the pursuit unit. Well, he was hoping anyways but it didn't seem that they were going to do so as they were still tailing him.

He was left with only two options, either keep running and hope he could outrun them to the village or stand his ground and hope he could take them on. He didn't like either outcome, but those were his only choices left.

It was just then he had to suddenly duck as a bolt of lighting raced by his face forcing him to duck down and protect the child. Looking to who had used the jutsu, he was surprised to see it was only a blonde haired girl around his age. However, what made him worried was that she seemed to be part of a team with as the rest of her team quickly joined her.

Kakashi thanked the god's for such good luck as he instantly recognized who her sensei happened to be. The Raikage himself. While it was a rarity, it did happen as both the first and second Hokages trained the Sandaime while they were in office.

However, it didn't seem he was in a good mood neither was the girl or the other man, who looked eerily similar to the Raikage. "State your purpose here Konoha ninja otherwise I'll make you regret ever encroaching on our land."

Trying to catch his breath to explain what was going on, Kakashi tried to reach into his pouch to give him the scroll. However, that seemed to be a very bad move as the Raikage was ready to pound his head in. However, to his surprise he suddenly stopped in front of him as a loud wailing was heard.

The next thing either knew was they were pushed to the ground as the blonde haired girl scream "HOW CUTE!" at the top of her lungs and was cradling the baby boy in her arms.

Shaking his head to get rid of the blurriness, Kakashi took a few deep breathes before pulling out a scroll and holding it out to the Raikage. "Sir, the Hokage sent me here in order to deliver this to you… Along with the child. I believe all the details are inside… Dammit!"

The scroll was suddenly knocked out of his hand as a kunai hit it as four shinobi wearing Anbu masks with the kanji NE written on it landed on the tree tops above them. "That's far enough Hatake. Now hand over that scroll and the baby…"

He was suddenly interrupted as a he found himself sizzling as a bolt of lighting ripped into his chest, knocking him off the tree. Once again it had come from the blonde haired girl who had use a single hand seal while holding onto the baby.

"Yugito! Stand down!" The Raikage yelled out at the blonde before turning to the Anbu who he knew had to be from Konoha as well. 'Hm, guess there is a power struggle in Konoha. Must be that man, Danzo I think his name was.'

Turning back to the four Anbu, the Raikage growled as lighting began to crackle around him. "More Konoha shinobi, eh? I will give you all one warning, get the hell out of my land or each and every single one of you will not see another day."

The four Anbu weren't intimidated by the Raikage's display; however, they knew better then to try anything. This man was beyond their level and if he happened to be out here, there was nothing they could do other then negotiate.

The said leader, who was picking himself off the ground, dusted his cloak off before speaking. "We would gladly do so, Lord Raikage. However, we need that scroll and the child back in Konoha to show the village of our Hokage's betrayal…"

"Over my dead body," Kakashi stated with a growl as he flipped his headband straight to reveal his Sharingan eye spinning wildly, "You boss just wants to over throw a just leader wanting the best for this boy."

Not sure what this was about, nor why Minato would send this boy to him, the Raikage simply picked up the scroll before unsealing it to read the papers inside.

In an instant, his eyes widened before his fist crumpled the papers in his hands as the lighting around him crackled around him violently. "I see… Yugito, take the boy back to the village. We'll find him a good place to stay. Kirabi, go with her just to make sure they don't try anything."

"What… Why brother? What importance…" Kirabi started to speak before he quickly interrupted by his brother.

"Just do it. I'll explain to you back at the village. Just keep him safe." E stated as he looked over towards the Root Anbu, waiting for him to make a motion towards his brother and Yugito.

Not going to question his brother's command, Kirabi simply nodded before heading off with Yugito in hot pursuit.

Soon as both left, the Raikage's eyes turned to Kakashi as the lighting that was crackling around him formed like a suit of armor around him. "You sure you can kill ninja from your own village, boy?"

"Gladly, to protect my sensei's son and I've been given permission to if necessary." Kakashi stated as his Sharingan eye gazed at the Root, who instantly began to retreat knowing that this was a battle they couldn't win.

The Raikage only smirked before suddenly appearing in front of them. "Good to hear as these four can't get back to Konoha. Not when Konoha has given my village such a great gift and responsibility. I will not fail Minato and make sure his son becomes as great as he was."

* * *

Twelve years had passed since that day Sarutobi had sent Naruto to the hidden village of the Cloud. It had been rather peaceful since then.

Danzo had been executed the moment his squad returned home, in body bags, for treason against Konoha and for attempting start a war with the Cloud. It might have not been the whole truth, but it played into Sarutobi's hand and he acted as if giving Naruto to the Cloud was the price to keep war from starting with them.

Years later, the two villages signed a non-aggression treaty with one another with no hiccups except one. Sarutobi, however, was informed that there was a faction in the Cloud that wanted to overthrow the Raikage by the Raikage himself and was going to kidnap the Hyuuga heiress to cause tension between the villages in an attempt to kick him out of office. Hiashi was able to prevent this when he heard of it and only injured the assailant.

He was also kept informed how Naruto was doing by periodic reports from the Raikage, his brother or one of his other senseis along with letters the boy wrote to him. Sarutobi was saddened by this as he couldn't watch the boy grow himself, but it was for the best for Naruto.

Sighing to himself, forgetting completely about the meaning at hand, he was suddenly brought back by Kakashi coughing. "Um, lord Hokage, may we get on with…"

"Oh, yes. Please do. Which among you believe your teams are ready to compete in the chunin exams? I will inform and warn you, there will be teams from many other villages including each of the other shinobi powers excluding the hidden village of the Rock." Sarutobi suddenly stated, getting back to the task at hand.

Smiling as he knew what the third was lost in thought about, Kakashi nodded before stepping forward. "Then, I do believe my team is ready to compete. I believe they are ready after the incident in the Wave and the experience will do them good in the future."

Next to speak was a woman with long haired brunette in her late twenties took a step forward before speaking. "I believe my team is more the ready for this test. They may be a little young and don't have much experience but from what I see, they are more then ready for this.

After her, she was followed by many other senseis stating the same. Once they were all done, Sarutobi simply handed each of the senseis admission slips and watched until each sensei had left until only the three rookie senseis were left.

As Kakashi took his three slips, he eye smiled at the Hokage before pocketing them. "So, I guess that was a letter from Naruto that arrived just before the meeting."

Both Asuma and Kurenai stopped as they heard this as they took their slips before Sarutobi's son spoke up. "Ah, that would explain the forlorn expression…"

"Not to mention the excitement…" Kurenai added on as she couldn't help but notice the Hokage seemed to be a little happier then he normally was. Then again, he was always happy when he didn't have to do his paperwork.

"Can't I get a moment of peace without you three jumping to conclusions?" Sarutobi stated before all three shook their head. "Dammit, I should have all three of you doing D-rank missions for this…"

"We already do." Asuma stated with a smile before he took a puff of his cigarette. "So what did the boy say?"

Shaking his head, Sarutobi sighed before turning around and looking over the village. "Not much as he is on the road at the moment, coming here for the exams."

"So I guess things are about to get interesting, if that's the case." Kakashi stated as he too got a few letters from Naruto every now and then as he was allowed to drop into and visit him when he was in the Land of Lighting.

Sarutobi simply nodded before smiling as he looked over to his predecessor's head on he monument. "It seems so; I just hope no one tries to entice him to stay here. His true home is now and forever the Cloud, whether we like it or not."

"It isn't like they have much of a choice to accept it." Kakashi added, having been there for the delivery and had seen what the Raikage did to Danzo's Root at the time. "The Raikage is fond of that boy, almost as if he thinks of him as his own son."

"That's not far from the truth, Kakashi. Both he and Minato were extremely close, bond forged by blood if you would." Sarutobi stated as he looked over at the forth's head on the monument before shaking his head. "How different things would be if he was still alive…"

All three jounin simply nodded, knowing it to be true. Asuma was the first to speak as he looked over at his watch before pulling out his pack of cigs. "Well, I better get to my team. It is almost time for us to meet up."

"Eh, my team has been waiting two hours. I told them to be there by eight." Kakashi said with amusement, just picturing their angered faces before they started their tirade of how late he was.

Kurenai sighed as she rubbed her temple in exasperation. "Some things never change, do they Kakashi?" Seeing him give her an eye smile, she rolled her eyes before disappearing in a pop of smoke followed by Asuma.

Sarutobi, while amused, groaned as he pulled out his pipe and lit it. "I wish you would be on time for once. I'm tired of hearing Konohamaru complaining about you being three hours late every day."

Kakashi simply waved him off before grinning as he disappeared as well, making the old man grumble before taking a puff of his pipe. "I swear you do that to me on purpose Hatake… But if he is coming, this will be one interesting Chunin Exam."

* * *

"Well, is this the village that supposedly kicked me out when I was a child?" A very angered teen with golden spiked hair, though it was hard to tell as he wore a red bandana over it with his ninja plate attached to it, stated.

While the hair that stuck out of the back wasn't exactly golden, it was close enough as the sun light reflected off of it making it such. He wore a simple red trench coat with white buckles keeping it closed. It covered most of his body, making it hard to see what else he wore but at his ankles it was possible to see a touch of brown, which were probably his pants, and a pair of black hiking boots.

However, the most noticeable feature was the giant golden blade around six feet in length strapped to his back. The blade itself was curved and contained three separate gems; one was deep crimson while the others were a shinning gold and a fiery blue.

Kirabi only shook his head at the blonde, knowing Naruto to be over presumptuous. Plus the fact that he was told of the events that led to his arrival at the Cloud at a young age. "For your own safety as the most of the village didn't want a constant reminder of the beast that took so much from their village."

Yugito, who was standing besides him, only rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but that is still no excuse. The Hokage has supreme power, so why not wield it over them and tell them to fuck off? It seems like he just didn't want to deal with the stress."

Sighing in annoyance as Naruto always seemed more rebellious when she was around, Kirabi shook his head. However, he didn't have to reprimand her as Naruto spoke. "Hey, the old man has a good heart. Besides, at his age that kind of stress could have killed him. Now even more so with that hellion of a kid that one of his two son's had. Forgot his name, though."

Raising her eyebrow at Naruto back talking her, Yugito sighed before placing her hand on her hip. "Fuck, that's another reason why I hate being sent here. Why was I sent to escort you and your gennin team here anyways? Sounds dumb with those monkeys in black cloaks getting ready to hunt us down."

"That's precisely the reason, Yugito. Taking one of us alone isn't as hard as it is with another vessel around. That complicates things, so expect to have a lot more missions with both Naruto and myself." Kirabi told her, smirking as he knew the she disliked the fact that she was being protected.

Naruto knew this as well and decided to pitch in. "Oh, but I doubt he is too worried though. I mean, she is the Raikage in-training after all. What protection is a bunch of gennin and their jounin-sensei going to do?"

Growling as she knew the boy was poking fun at her skills, Yugito take a deep breath before hitting Naruto on the top of the head. "Brat, I'm still far more powerful then you are. Just because you are farther along then I was at your age means nothing. I didn't start getting truly strong till I was in my twenties."

"But, wouldn't that mean that Naruto could even become stronger then you Miss Nii?" A dark skinned girl with long red hair asked. She wore a tight black tank-top cut above her belly button, revealing some of her bust, with a white jacket on top and a white bandana to cover the top of her head. She wore a simple pair of black pants with a pouch strapped to her left thigh.

Yugito scoffed at that before looking over at the girl, Karui if she remembered her name correctly. "Mathematically, it is possible. But, the thing is I was stunted in my training due to war and having to help raise Blondie here. If I had the same type of background as Naruto had, I could even be more powerful…"

"Oh give it a rest, Yugito before I have to break it up again. Don't forget while you are the Head Ninja*, I'm still the second strongest. And as of this mission, I'm in charge, not you." Kirabi established himself, getting tired of Naruto and Yugito's fighting.

He didn't understand why she was so upset that many considered that Naruto had far surpassed her when she was that age. She was twenty-six, so why couldn't she act like it instead of acting like she was royalty. He also knew it was more because Yugito felt threatened by Naruto, but it conflicted with her other feelings, especially seeing that she considered him family.

Narrowing her eyes, not liking it for a second that she wasn't in command as she normally was, Yugito simply huffed before she took the lead, heading towards Konoha.

As she walked, the other part of the gennin team scratched his head as he watched her leave. Just as Karui, he had a dark skin and wore a tight black shirt. However, he wore loose fitting pants as he was tired of having problems with tight jeans. He also wore a black bandana wrapped around his head showing off his white hair.

Finally getting tired of being left out, he finally spoke. "Sensei, why does Miss Nii act like that around Naruto? She is normally calm, composed and normally fun to be around. Hell, I remember when she was nothing but kind to Naruto and that wasn't that long ago."

Kirabi, knowing Yugito could hear them despite being a good distance in front of them and talking with the gate guards, simply shrugged his shoulders as it wasn't up to him tell. "There are many reasons, but not one I can put a finger on. So it is best just to let go and let her solve her own issues."

Arriving at the gate, Yugito obviously waiting as she didn't feel entirely comfortable going into the village by herself, Kirabi handed his papers to the guard. The said guard went over them like a fine comb before nodding as he handed them back. "Welcome to Konoha. Please act accordingly and try not to cause any trouble otherwise you will be thrown out. After you check yourself in with the Hokage's staff, you will be designated a hotel room to stay in for your duration."

Nodding as he was speaking more to his gennin then he was to him. After all, what jounin wouldn't know how to behave in another village? Well, the exception being that purple haired Konoha ninja… Anko, he believed her name was. Then again, he really couldn't complain. That night had been really, really fun.

As Kirabi led the way to the tower, with a glowering Yugito and a curious team trailing, the chunin watched them leaving. More specifically, he was watching the blonde before turning to his partner. "Hmp, looks like the exams will be pretty interesting. The Yondaime's legacy is back."

"Seriously? No way, he looks nothing like what I thought he would. I was picturing him to be… Well, shorter and wearing orange or something." The other chunin spoke in shock, not believing that to be the Kyuubi vessel.

"Kotetsu, Izumo, get back to work! If I hear you chatting again and not looking for anyone suspicious I will report you two again." A feminine voice command them as an Anbu wearing a cat mask stood on top of the gate.

Muttering bitch under their breathes, they went back to their duties. Shaking her head, as she didn't have much to do either as her duties were the same except she actually had to do something about it, she sighed before returning to her previous post.

'Well, at least that is over. Dammit, that means I'm going to have a hell of a month just to make sure… Ugh! I hate the kid! This is going to be troublesome! Couldn't I have just gotten an assassination mission with my squad? It would be some much easier!'

Hearing them chatter once more, she grew irate before she grabbed two small rocks and hit them on top of the head. "Shut up and take your jobs seriously! Who knows who could be trying to get in? For all we know, that traitorous snake could be among these guys or even worse!"

At the said moment, Konoha barely visible in the distance, the jounin of a certain sound gennin squad stopped as his nose itched and knew someone was talking about him and got a bad feeling. "I think we should wait for a moment. They're onto me."

The three gennin groaned. Damn their paranoid leader.

* * *

Walking on his own through the village he was born in, Naruto only shook his head. It was quite a peaceful place from what he had seen so far. How was it that this was the village that wanted his blood just for being their savior?

He grew angry at that thought, but he only sighed before looking to see where he was. Great, he lost sight of both Karui and Omoi. When he lost them, he had no idea but he started to back track in order to find them. There was, however, one problem was that.

Growing frustrated as he was utterly lost, he took a small alley between two wooden fences as he caught sight of his other two teammates, both of which were looking for him.

"Naruto! Where the hell have you been?" Karui yelled at him before throwing a rock at his face, which Naruto aptly dodged immediately knowing she could put some force into her throws.

"Don't know. I got lost looking at the sights and somehow lost both of you in the process. What happened, get distracted by some young boy Karui?" Naruto suddenly joked at the end, trying to rile her up and get the attention off of him as he gotten lost.

The next second, Naruto had to side step a katana thrown to his jugular before Karui started screaming at him. "SHUT UP NARUTO! I DO NOT LIKE YOUNG BOYS LIKE THAT!"

This caused Omoi to blink for a second before decided to join in on Naruto to humiliate his other teammate. "Oh, I don't know about that. I've seen you how you look at those ten year olds at the academy. It is as if you have a crush on them…"

"FUCK OFF OMOI! YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A HUSTLER LOOKING TO GET LAID OFTEN!" Karui yelled back at him, still seething as she pulled her katana out of the fence and waved it towards him dangerously.

Waving his hands passively at her, not going to deny her claim, Omoi spoke softly so she would direct her anger towards someone else. "As true as that is, weren't you mad at Naruto as we've been looking for him for twenty minutes and that he started talking about you love for little boys first?"

"UZUMAKI, YOU'RE DEAD!" Karui yelled at the blonde as she was effectively maneuvered to bring her attention on Naruto.

The only thing was Naruto was on a dead sprint and was already out of sight. 'Shit! Shit! Next time, don't let Omoi get involved! He always screws me over!'

In the very next moment, Naruto put on the brakes and skidded to a stop as Karui appeared in front of him, trying to behead him. Falling on all fours to avoid the slice, he darted off in the other direction while yelling out. "KARUI I'M SORRY! DON'T KILL ME!"

However, it didn't seem like she was listening as Karui was brandishing the blade like a whip while screaming a war cry at the top of her lungs. So it was inevitable that Naruto had to barrel into someone who Karui also tumbled over and ate concrete as a result.

As both groaned as they got up, the person they had ran over yelled out at them. "OW! Watch were the hell you are going… AHK! CLOUD NINJA!"

Blinking for a moment, Naruto was the first to recover, checking to make sure Karui wasn't going to continue her assault. Seeing that she had calmed down considerably, he turned his attention to the apparent young boy. "Sorry about that… I pissed my team mate off here and she was trying to kill me."

"Oh, I do that kind of stuff to my pink haired team mate all the time. It is so funny to watch her get pissed for the littlest things. The name is Konohamaru and I guess you are here for the exam?" The boy now known as Konohamaru chuckled as he understood completely, loving to do the same thing to his team mate, Sakura.

Karui nodded, noticeable blushing, before speaking in a much softer and kinder voice. "We are. Wait, you are a gennin? You don't look to be ten."

Smirking, Konohamaru jumped up before flexing a muscular pose even if he was rather bony for his age. "I'm not! I am Sarutobi Konohamaru, graduated at the age of nine from the academy!"

Rolling his eyes, both at Konohamaru and Karui's gaze towards the said boy, Naruto sighed before picking himself up and dusting himself off. "Don't be telling that to others, as they will eat you apart as there are some that didn't become gennin till fourteen or even later."

Arriving to see his team mates were safe and sound and Konohamaru, Omoi started panting heavily as it was extremely hard to keep up with them. "Damn… both of you. How are you both so fast?"

Ignoring Omoi's outburst, Naruto gagged the young boy's reaction before smirking as he saw an opening. "Hm, but I doubt you graduated very easily. Just from your demeanor, I can tell while you were above everyone else in your age class, those in the graduating class made you look like a fool. I bet if it wasn't for an easy final exam, you wouldn't have made it, would you?"

Seeing that Konohamaru's demeanor had completely changed from confident to shell shocked, Karui was about to say something when a pink haired girl jumped over, having heard the conversation as she was in the training ground not to far off. "That's not true! Konohamaru did…"

"Shut up, I'm not finished." Naruto commanded her in a deathly tone, making the girl fidget and back away in fear as the blonde's eyes flashed red, adding to the fear.

Knowing what he was doing, both Karui and Omoi kept their mouths shut as one less opponent to deal with in the exam was for the best, even if they found it questionable that he was going to tear down such a young boy. "Furthermore, seeing from your age you must be the grandson to the Hokage, you were probably given favorable treatment making it easier to graduate."

"You are nothing more then a little child entering the big kid's domain. Be warned, the strong will crush the weak as that is what the strong will do and if you get in my way, I will make sure you won't ever do so again as a weak little kid like you should know better." Naruto stated swiftly, his tone being just as deadly as it was before.

However after a moment, he smirked as the result he had wanted seemed to be manifesting itself. Instead of being a cowardly young boy, he saw his eyes lit up and the fire within them told him he gathered his courage. "I am not weak… I will show everyone that I'm strong, even if I have to kick their asses to do it! Make no mistake, I am ready for this!"

Smirking as he crossed his arms, Naruto began to chuckle as he suppressed the killing intent he had been releasing. "Good to know and I will look forward to it. A shinobi without the fire to grow stronger is little more then cannon fodder. I hope to see you there tomorrow."

Seeing the look of surprise on the young boy's face, Naruto turned around and motioned for both Karui and Omoi to follow before turning back around to Konohamaru. "Oh, and tell your team mate over in that tree his stealth is pitiful. I knew he was there from the first moment pinky showed up."

Growling as he heard this, Sasuke jumped down with his fist clinched as they started walking away again before yelling out. "Who are you?"

Stopping and looking back, Naruto shrugged. "Not for you to know, however," Looking back towards Konohamaru, Naruto smirked again, "Since he at least proved himself, I will flatter you with a response."

Glad this response pissed the boy off that demanded his name, Naruto turned around and started walking off before saying his name, making it hard to catch. However, it was loud enough that he made sure they heard it. "Uzumaki Naruto."

* * *

**A/N**: Some of you may note that I put an asterisk(*) after Head Ninja and no that isn't a mistake as I wanted to explain it a little for those that don't know.

In the Cloud, there is an extra rank between Jounin and Raikage that only one can become, more then likely the person that is next in line to become their Kage. As it is alluded to that Yugito was second in command, then it was very probable that she was the Head Ninja. …And I would have used the Japanese name for the rank, but I really didn't want to use _Shinobigashira_. There reason why… Is self explanatory.

To state, Karui and Omoi are sixteen while Naruto is thirteen. Also, seeing the Raikage's name is E… Well I might just stick with Raikage more times then not. I'm just not accustomed to one letter names…

As I said before this is a preview and I'm using this to judge how readers will like it. Any critcism, as long as it is non-flaming, will be gleefully accepted as really like this story so far. Any one that wants to be my editor(Beta) and thinks they are up to the task can either PM or email me at my yahoo account.


	2. Chapter 2

I Do Not Own Naruto

* * *

"Damn, what is her problem?" Naruto grumbled as he massaged his forehead as he waited for both Karui and Samui to show up as he waited outside Konoha's Academy as it was designated to be where the first test would be taken.

Of course he was talking about Yugito. Ever since he had became a gennin, she had instantly become extraordinarily critical of him instead of being happy of all the progress he had made. Up until that point, she had been very caring towards him yet now she verbally assault him every time she could.

It wasn't that she was afraid that he was usurping her and become the Head Ninja. He honestly didn't care for the position or becoming Raikage at that. It was honestly too bothersome to become and he would rather protect his village while having the capacity to still provide for it and move about instead of being cooped up in an office for most of the day.

To make things worse, his hand throbbed as she had decided to strike out after he told her such. He had stopped her strike, but she instead gripped his wrist and shattered the bones. That was really going to make his day especially if this happened to be a damn written test as he was right handed.

All of it started with him waking up and accidentally knocking over her coffee, spilling it on her tuna tekkodan. It then escalated out of proportion, despite apologizing seven times. Kirabi eventually broke it up, but not after the damage had been done and Naruto had quickly left, stating he was heading out.

"**Fucking ignore the cat bitch. I wouldn't be surprised if Nibi was involved somehow and causing her sudden shift of personality. The cat and I loathe each other and would do anything to get back at the other.**" Kyuubi pitched in, bored of having nothing to do and annoyed because his vessel was moping around and thinking about the damn cat vessel.

Naruto simply shook his head before adding another layer of tape onto his wrist before pulling on his trench coat and buckling it. 'It has to be more then that. While she has a symbiotic relationship with the cat, she can and has been ignoring the cat's blind hatred towards you. But I do agree it is fueling her anger.'

Thinking for a moment, the fox puzzled his vessel's conundrum before responding. "**It could be that while she isn't afraid of you taking her position, she is afraid for other reasons. If I may be so bold, I believe she has some attraction towards you but seeing you separating from her so quickly her first-most action is to push you away so she doesn't feel so hurt.**"

'What?' Naruto jumped when he heard attraction, but what most of the fox said was rather plausible. 'Okay, that makes some sense but I doubt that is all that there is involved. Besides, she is way too old and not to mention she is almost like a mother to me."

Giving his vessel a growl of agreement, Kyuubi sighed before scratching the gate in a chance it just might open. Seeing it was sturdy as ever, the fox sighed again. "**Probably so and attraction is too strong of a word. I don't think you two would ever be like that, mainly because of their and our symbiosis.**"

Agreeing with his demon, Naruto noticed that both Karui and Omoi were walking towards him. Waving with his left before gripping his wrist gingerly, he grinned. "About time you two got here. Now we can get going..."

"Naruto, let me see your wrist. We heard what happened." Karui stated before walking over to him and gripping his arm.

Wincing in pain as she forcefully made him extend his arm, Karui sighed as she sliced off the bandages before examine his wrist. The fact that it was glowing red didn't really bother her. "It is broken alright, but the fox is taking care of it. However, your bandages were actually hindering the process and making it heal incorrectly. So..."

"I have to break my wrist again." Naruto growled out, knowing exactly what she was going to say as he had studied a little of medical procedures, mainly mending bones as he did tend to break them often.

As she nodded Naruto pulled off his coat before taking out a wooden gag he kept, having a feeling he would need it just for this occasion, he bit down into it and closed his eyes.

Seeing how quickly he prepared and was ready, Karui didn't waste a second before with two quick snaps, she had reset the arm. Of course Naruto hollered from the pain, but the gag had muffled it to a loud curse to anyone that saw what happened.

After using two splints and wrapping them around his wrist, Karui shook her head as Naruto put his coat back on. "Next time, come straight to me if you break a bone if possible. I know more about healing then either of you."

"That's because I never paid attention and Naruto is constantly breaking something." Omoi stated before pulling out a lollipop from his pouch and plopping it into his mouth. "So how bad was it this time? We only heard a little bit before sensei put Miss Nii in her place."

"I don't want to talk about it... I just want to get this day over with, alright." Naruto growled out from both the pain he currently was in and did not want to talk about that subject.

Waving his hands peacefully, not meaning anything about it, Omoi shrugged his shoulders. "Just wanted to know what happened. Never seen Miss Nii that out of breath... Then again I haven't seen sensei get a black eye before."

"It got that bad?" Naruto said shocked, not believing it would have come to blows. While he knew Kirabi was getting very pissed at Yugito's obvious lack of respect, something she was renowned for, towards him but was letting it slide and only reprimanding her.

Glaring at Omoi, Karui shook her head. "It is not as bad as he made it sound. Yugito was still pissed after you left and she was mostly ignoring sensei so he gave her a warning then tried to get her attention to keep from chasing you down by grabbing her. Out of sheer instinct she punched him before she started apologizing immediately."

Getting a better picture, Naruto understood what had transpired after he left a little more. Yugito was extraordinarily tough, able to keep up with E in hand-to-hand combat for five minutes and her instinct was top notch. No one else could boast that except maybe Kirabi on a good day...

Shaking his head, Naruto sighed before rubbing his temple with his good hand. "Okay... Well, we still have the first exam. Shall we get to it?"

Both nodded. Nothing else needed to be said as they headed in, ready to take care of this test.

* * *

Groaning as the first test was mostly over, Naruto wanted to snap the desk before him in two. 'Why? Did it have to be a paper test, honestly? I so hope that this is graded on the espionage more then the actual papers otherwise I'm screwed as no one could read this.'

Much to Naruto's dismay, the first test had indeed been a written test. But, there had been some interesting rules to the test that made him immediately catch on to what was going on. One such rule had been that they wouldn't have been thrown out if they were caught cheating, which was the norm if you did cheat.

However, his prowess when it came to spying on others wasn't as good as he would have liked it to be. But it seemed like no one had noticed that he used a simple bottle of water to look through and figure out the answers. The only reason he had it out as he asked before if he could take out a bottle of water. While it was unclear, he could still make it out. Barely.

But what annoyed him was the events before this test had even started. Not as soon as the last Konoha gennin team had arrived, which happened to be Konohamaru's team, they all broke out into talking. While this wouldn't have bothered him, the grey haired gennin whose name he didn't quite get did.

'How the hell did he have that much information, especially what he had on me?'

(Flashback)

_"You have information on everyone that entered the exams?" The feral boy with the dog asked, Kiba if he heard correctly as he listened in on them, not liking what he heard._

_Frowning, he closed his eyes and focused his chakra to his ears to listen to what he was going to say. "Of course. If there is anyone that you want to know about, I have information on them whether it be mission stats and sometimes even a personality profile."_

_Getting even more thrown by this, Naruto was ready to strike as that was too much information for a GENNIN to have. And even if he wasn't, to offer it to the gennin of this village was unlawful as no village was allowed to support their gennin to that extent._

_But before he could do a thing, Sasuke, as there was no way he hadn't heard his name between the banshees' wailing, stepped forward and practically demanded the silver haired gennin. "I want to know of Uzumaki Naruto, the blonde of the Cloud ninja."_

_"Oh you couldn't have made that any easier. There are only two guys from the Cloud anyways." The gennin stated before pulling out a card before looking shocked. "Wow! I know almost nothing of this guy! The only thing I know was that he was born here in Konoha but due to events caused by Danzo thirteen years ago, he was given away in order to placate them. ...Must have been of some importance as it indeed worked."_

_Calming a little, as that was common knowledge, Naruto still frowned as this guy threw him off. But before he could get any further in his thought, the proctor decided to suddenly appear. "Everyone shut up! The first exam shall now commence!"_

(Flashback End)

The said proctor, Ibiki, looked over the crowd of gennin one last time before finally speaking out. "Alright, pens down. Now before we get to the final question, there will be a few rule changes for it."

"If you wish to leave now, but know that you can make up for this as all of those questions are now meaningless. If you stay here, however, you will be risking you career to further yourself as a ninja. I say that because... if you miss this next question, you WILL be banned from taking the exams again for the rest of your lives." Ibiki punctuated with a firm voice that held no lie within. He was dead serious.

Everyone was dead silent in their surprise. Many wanted to say something; however this guy was a jounin and held serious power here in Konoha. It was possible that he could have the pull to make such a thing happen. Even Naruto, to an extent was caught of guard by this.

But as soon as he was, he twitched slightly as he knew that couldn't be the truth, at least for those outside of the village. He also detected the killing intent laced with his words which was why mostly everyone was silent until a blonde pig-tail girl from the Sand shouted out. "You can't do that! You don't have that kind of power!"

"I have the consent from all the powers may be for this so therefore I can. If any of you fail, you WON'T be taking this exam again. So think it over. If you can't stomach that, I suggest you leave in the next five minutes. However, if you do the rest of your team must join you. The five minutes start now." Ibiki responded flawlessly as if he had rehearsed that answer, expecting it to be asked.

This time he could sense the lie in his voice, but he doubted many people could. He, after all, was trained in it. E did not hold anything back in his training and truthfully, he thought this to be below him outside of it being somewhat challenging.

It also didn't matter that he noticed many of the others were dropping like flies after Ibiki finished. As long as Karui and Omoi didn't, he was fine and he could see that they weren't going anywhere as they were quite confident, being held back after Samui advanced to chunin on her first attempt and trained with Naruto for two years.

However, he did notice that Konohamaru was extremely nervous and he should be. The shock of never being able to advance could make any young ninja stop their actions. He also noted that his pink hair team mate happened to be raising her hand to forfeit her team. Not wanting to go into the next round without the kid as he kind of liked him, he was about to say something when Konohamaru suddenly jumped up.

"You aren't going to scare me! I might just be a kid, but no one is going to tell me what I can't do! I'm going to become Hokage one way or another, so bring it! Nothing you have can stop me!" Konohamaru yelled out, catching a lot of people's attention.

Naruto couldn't help but smirk like he did the day before. Just like yesterday, the boy seemed on the verge of breaking and yet he gathered his courage and stood up to his attacker. 'Hmp. That pipsqueak has some brass... And one hell of a fiery will. He also gathered pinky's confidence too, it seems.'

"**You always did like those with fiery passions. They seem to bring the best out of you no matter the situation.**" Kyuubi commented as he too was somewhat impressed by the boy, somewhat reminded of his vessel.

Nodding in agreement, Naruto brought his attention back to the proctor as he spoke once more. "Are you sure about that? Your dreams could be shattered if you fail. Could you live with yourself if that were to happen?"

"He said he doesn't care, so get on with the damn question already! It's been five minutes." Naruto firmly stated as he put his feet onto the desk before crossing his arms over his chest.

Seeing it had indeed been five minutes and noting that no one else was leaving, Ibiki shrugged before a small grin appeared on his face. "That it is so... Everyone here has passed!"

Everyone was startled by this. Even Naruto as he flipped out of his chair and hit his head on the floor. He hadn't been expecting that. Sure, he expected all those that were left would have passed, but he still expected to be some sort of question as he weeded out the rest that were unfit. Groaning as he got back up, he tried to rub the back of his head with his injured arm only to cause himself more pain.

Ibiki simply chuckled at everyone's reaction, none more so then the blonde Cloud gennin's, he shook his head as he was bombarded by questions, most of them being why the passed. "As much as I want to answer all of your questions, this test was quite simple. The first nine were to test your espionage skills to see if you could fine one of the three chunin posing as gennin."

As the three raised their hand and showed who they were, Ibiki continued. "As for the last question, it was meant to display those who had the courage to act in a lose-lose situation. There are times that you must sacrifice in order to gain and those unable to won't be able to make it in our vicious world. ...I know that too well."

Before he could go on about how he knew that, a black blur smashed through the glass before a banner sprouted with a purple haired woman in a trench coat jumped before it. The problem was, no one knew what the banner said as it was backwards.

Seeing this, the woman cursed before kicking it. "Dammit! I fucked up my entrance again! How many times is that going to happen today? First my date and now this! What else can go wrong?"

"Anko, you're early by ten minutes." Ibiki threw in. He was a little annoyed that she interrupted him; however he always had a blast when he made fun of her as she made it so damn easy.

Groaning as she slumped over, Anko quickly regained her chipper spirit and jumped up with enthusiasm. "Well, that doesn't matter! I want everyone to go to training ground forty-four in an hour! If you don't know where it is, tough luck maggots! You're own your own!"

And just like she entered, she exited as a black blur breaking the glass making Ibiki groan. "Oh crap... I have to pay for those windows! I rented this room out for today!"

Deciding not to stick around any longer despite the situation being quite funny, Naruto decided it would be best to follow one of the Konoha gennin team that passed. The problem was... None of them knew where the stated training ground was.

* * *

"Goddammit... I swear if one more bad thing happens today I'm going to kill someone. Omoi, you're first on my list." Naruto growled out as he took a scroll from one of the extra proctors before giving it to Karui as she was the best at hiding things.

Karui only looked amused while Omoi looked horrified. Naruto had been mostly ignoring the purple haired proctor and only paying attention to what he needed to know, which pissed her off. So she threw a kunai that scratched his cheek, which he really didn't mind too much. It was when she appeared behind him and grabbed his right wrist things went overboard.

Naruto had begun screaming obscenities at her as she messed with his wrist and accidentally broke it yet again which then had to be broken back into place. He was also very, very pissed that she happened to reveal that weakness to everyone so once the exams came apparent, he knew his wrist was going to be a target.

"Oh lighten up. Don't forget that Omoi and I have been here before. We'll get through this easily and then we'll get to the third exam, which is normally a tournament. That should cheer you up." Karui chirped as she patted Naruto on the back as they reached their gate and waited for the signal so they could start.

Feeling slightly better as a tournament always cheered him up, watching people bash each other's brains in or in this case bashing them in himself, Naruto still winced. "While that is all and good, look how many freaking people made it to this exam. Even though this is meant to eliminate many teams, there was around fifty teams that advanced."

"Shit... There could be prelims and we could get a bad draw. But, we don't need to worry. There is five days so we need to prepare to steal someone's scroll." Omoi caught on before changing his focus as that was in the future. They had to make it that far first.

Nodding in agreement, Naruto adjusted his sword so he could draw it with his left. He happened to be ambidextrous in almost everything except writing or anything related to regular motor skills.

* * *

Hours after they entered the forest they had spent it seeking out another team to liberate them of their scroll. The only problem was they weren't finding anyone. Either they had gotten ahead of everyone or they knew they were coming and were running away. But that still didn't explain why they couldn't hear them around.

All three slapped their forehead nearly simultaneously before they all looked at one another and nodded in unison. "Genjutsu."

"Shall I do the honors or shall we just wait till they decided to come after us to pummel them?" Naruto questioned as he wanted to know what the others thought as he really wanted to get some of his pent up frustration out.

Knowing this, Karui shook her head before she flickered through a few hand seals. The next moment, the illusion around them seemed to break but it was difficult to say as the area looked exactly the same.

"Wow, that was a pretty decent genjutsu those guys used. They got the background perfect and everything." Omoi stated with a whistle, impressed that there was someone with that impressive of a genjutsu for a gennin.

Naruto rolled his eyes before sighing as he turned to their opposition. Omoi could be really stupid at times...

However, Karui wasn't as forgiving as she slapped him upside the head. "The genjutsu was to hide them idiot! I wish it was you that graduated last time instead of Samui! At least she had a brain and we would be rid of you!"

"Knock it off." Naruto commanded as he calmly looked towards the three gennin, identifying them as Rain ninja from their insignia while his hand crept to the handle of his blade. The masks really didn't help their case either as it seemed a good few of the rain seemed to wear those kind of masks for some reason.

Doing as he commanded, Karui and Omoi were ready to strike. Well, Karui seemed ready to launch. Omoi was seemingly evaluating his opponent before he made a hasty decision.

Seeing this, Naruto's attention was fully upon the three ninja before him before he spoke in a deadly calm voice. "If you would, just hand us your scroll and make this easy. I rather this not get violent as I would hate to see your three bodies being dragged out of this forest."

The way he spoke made the Rain ninja rather uneasy. His demeanor was confident, despite having his injury advertised by the proctor and it seemed he was ready to use his blade. Either that meant he could use it with his left hand or he was bluffing. If he was, the fight would be easier as it would only be two on three. If he wasn't...

So attempting to call his bluff, the leader stepped forward. "Unlikely. We're here to advance as well, so don't think for a moment you will easily get out of this."

Sighing as he couldn't end this peacefully, not that he really wanted it to end peacefully; Naruto dropped his hand from his blade. "Ah, oh well. I guess this was inevitable."

Before they could act, Naruto appeared behind them, stomping the leader into the ground. Before the others could react or use their genjutsu to hide, a katana was placed at both of their throats as Karui and Omoi were on them quickly.

Placing his foot on the back of his head, Naruto put some pressure as he forced his face into the dirt. "Now, give us your scroll or I may accidentally crush your skull."

Before he could do such a thing, his head suddenly disappeared and was replaced by a log as was his team mates. As soon as this happened, they began to reappear however in mass. "Tch, mist clones. This should be easy."

All of the clones were gone in a swift moment, Naruto pulling his blade of his back and cutting them down in an instant. Sheathing the blade again, Naruto became a blur of red. In the next moment, the three rain ninja were thrown into the clearing before Naruto reappeared before them.

"This is too easy. Even with one arm disabled, you aren't worth our time. Now give us your scroll before things get serious!" Naruto all but ordered them to do as his eyes bled red and a slight aura of crimson surrounded him in a haze.

The look in his eyes promised swift death and none of the three gennin wanted to die. Giving up a scroll for their life seemed to be a good offer and they could always get another."

Pulling out a white scroll, Naruto almost groaned as they had a heaven scroll. Still, he took it nonetheless before Karui and Omoi quickly chopped them on the back of their necks, making sure they could follow. "Well, we might be able to negotiate with another team. Who knows, they might have two earth scrolls."

"True enough, but that fight was rather pathetic. These guys didn't even stand a chance." Omoi complained as he kicked the dirt near one of their heads.

Karui simply shrugged before rolling her eyes. "Well, you and I have been at this for four years now and been training our butts off. Naruto has practically been trained since he could walk, so it really wasn't fair. We're only here, mostly so the old Hokage can see how Naruto is growing up and if he's happy."

"Which I am... Except of recently." Naruto admitted before stretching his shoulders. "Well, let's get a bit further ahead before we break for the day. I want to be able to fight at full capacity soon and a quick rest should heal my arm."

"If you don't keep getting it broken." Karui smirked as she knew before they got to make camp he would some how break his wrist once more.

* * *

It was hours later, Naruto had taken off on his own to scout the area as Karui rested as they were going in shifts. His wrist was finally healed, but still a weak spot as it could break again with moderate pressure. So the cast would be necessary till it was back to a hundred percent.

Something was off and was why he was wandering off on his own. Of course he did wander away from his mission as such the nickname given to him by E himself was the Crimson Rogue. Strangely enough, it found its way in the Bingo book but only for the Mist. He had a feeling that the new Mizukage was the reason for that.

That was when he found himself in what he knew was a recent battle field. The amount of destruction obviously clued him off to that, but the coordination was what got him. There obvious had to be summons involved by the tracks he was noticing. Not only that, the tracks were odd as they had to be something that dragged its belly.

Frowning, not liking what he was finding so far, Naruto decided to follow the carnage a bit further before he noticed something odd. There happened to be an Anbu stationed in the area, investigating what happened. There was only one reason for this so Naruto made his presence known. "Is there an intruder?"

Having seen the boy a while before, she had to commend the boy as he managed to keep his presence unknown to her far longer then any gennin she knew of could. Even though he was a ninja from an opposing village, she could tell his worry was more on the fact that his team could be in danger. "Yes, there is an intruder. That is all you need to know."

Narrowing his eyes, he wanted to ask more but knew he would get anything out of her as it was her job to keep secret and he was an opposing shinobi. Still, why hadn't the exams been canceled if there was an intruder... unless there was something at play here? Did the intruder have the power to actually threaten a hidden village? If that was the case...

Not liking this outcome in the least, he noted that not too far from them was Konohamaru's team. The odd thing was the pink haired girl was on guard while it seemed both Konohamaru and Sasuke were out cold. Having a feeling that they were the one attacked by the intruder, Naruto quickly closed in on them.

While he didn't like the idea of pouncing on a weakened team, he was an opportunist and he saw a profit in this. If they indeed had an earth scroll, they could quickly get out of this as he doubted the pink haired girl was a good negotiator.

Jumping down into the clearing, he made his presence known. The girl, Sakura he believed her name was, jumped up and was ready to defend her team mates. "W-What are you doing here? Are you here to finish us?"

"Maybe, yes." Naruto answered honestly as if she didn't give into his demands he would have to put her down. He also knew the Anbu was watching him now that he made his move, probably not trusting him in the least. "I, however, am here only to make a trade if possible. If you have an earth scroll, I will give you a heaven and I will be on my way."

Narrowing her eyes, Sakura did not like this. This guy had appeared within the hour after their team had been attacked and now he was trying to cash in on their obvious weakness. "Why should I trade with you? Obviously if I give you the scroll you will have both as you wouldn't trade if you didn't. And what kind of person are you, picking on us when we're weak."

"I am a shinobi." Naruto answered her questioned before unsheathing his sword and pointing it straight towards the pink haired gennin. "Now, I will ask again. We can either trade, if you do indeed have an earth scroll, or I can take you out and take your scroll leaving you with none and no guard."

Sakura was at a cross road. She knew she stood no chance against this opponent. Just from the way he lifted his sword effortlessly made her believe he had skill and it with his injured hand no less. Both Konohamaru and Sasuke were out and wouldn't be awake any time soon, so risking that they could get out alive with no one keeping guard was something she couldn't do.

Having no choice, she reached into Konohamaru's pouch before throwing the earth scroll towards him. "Take it and go!"

Catching it effortlessly, Naruto sheathed his sword before pocketing it and pulling out his extra heaven scroll and tossing it to her. "Thank you, I hope to see you in the next round."

Turning to leave, he stopped before turning back to her. "And I wish I was here to help. It looks as if you could have needed me."

Before Sakura could fathom a response Naruto was gone in a crimson blur, purposely racing past the Anbu.

The said Anbu wasn't sure what to think, but she did know one thing. If there was anything that could leave an imprint on a young ninja's life, the young Konoha gennin had just gone through it. She just had a face to face encounter with a real ninja.

* * *

"Finally! Why was this place so hard to find?" Karui complained as they reached the tower within the forest, their destination point. However, to their surprise they weren't the first there.

"Um, we got here in ten hours right... So how did these guys get here before us?" Omoi questioned as he looked over towards the Suna team with a red headed boy along with what seemed to be a wind mistress and a puppeteer if he analyzed their weapons correctly.

Naruto's eyes were solely on the red head, ignoring the other two completely as they didn't matter. The aura surrounding the red head was murderous, yet it felt so much like his own when he was angered. There was very few reasons for this and while he was unable to determine which was true, he had a gut feeling.

Not even hesitating as he stepped forward to the chunin that was summoned by the Sand team, he showed him the scrolls. His eyes never left the red head as he spoke. "It is nice to see another group of gennin that takes their job seriously. The name is Uzumaki Naruto."

The red head simply gazed at Naruto uncaringly as the chunin examined the scrolls to make sure they were real. He was mildly surprised that his gaze never left his and he in fact looked him in the eyes without an ounce of fear overcoming him despite the blood lust he was oozing.

This blonde, was interesting to him. He would humor him as he went to extend his arm and shook his hand. "Sabaku Gaara. May the next time meet, is when I kill you."

"Looking forward to it." Naruto responded immediately as he shook his hand, as it was his right, his eyes glistening before a flash of red glazed over for a millisecond before fading back to the blue.

Gaara wasn't intimidated in the least by either his surprisingly sturdy wrist or the flash of his eyes. It simply added to his interest of this Naruto. This one would be fun to watch suffer.

Releasing his grip Gaara turned and walked into the tower as his team had been beckoned in.

Watching them go forward, the chunin nodded as the scrolls were indeed correct. "Well, I'll be damned. Two teams in record time. If you would just follow them, you will find there are plenty rooms and you can rest for the duration of this portion of the exam. Your team has deserved it."

Smiling and nodding, Naruto slowly headed in the direction Gaara and his team and went before stopping just around the corner. Not even turning to tell his team why, he spoke swiftly yet commanding to make sure they knew. "From this point on if you are to face Gaara at any point, you will concede. There is a high probability he is the demon container of Shukaku of the Sand. Do not risk it to find out."

Before they could even speak, Naruto walked ahead effectively eliminating any chance for them to talk back. He knew he was the one tail vessel, so he would be damned if his friends would get hurt facing him.

However not too far away in the room they had chose to stay in for the duration; Gaara spoke in a ghastly, blood lusting voice scaring his siblings. "If either of you are to run into that Uzumaki... I want you to flee. He is... too strong for either of you and he is mine to kill."

Looking at one another, neither of his siblings were going to say a word. If that guy had set off Gaara's blood thirsty nature without worry, they didn't want to try and battle him. He was too much of a freak as when Gaara said he would kill you, you were dead.

Always.

* * *

**A/N**: Alright, I lied last A/N about finishing the story before updating again. I'm close, but it will take a little while before I'm finished with the entire story. So I decided to add the second chapter to keep everyone interested.

As for last chapter, there was mistake with the orbs. It wasn't suppose to be a brown orb. It was golden and I changed it... Or at least it better have been changed as I know I did and if somehow didn't change I'm gonna... Nonetheless, it was gold.

Anyways, let me know what you think of this chapter and the next update will... Well, I'll update it again next time I'm online. So until then, Peace Out.


	3. Chapter 3

I Do Not Own Naruto

* * *

"Yes sir, that is correct." A Konoha chunin stated to Kirabi at the entrance of the hotel room their way staying at.

Kirabi simply nodded before smiling as he had a feeling his team would have nearly set a record. The only reason they hadn't was that another team beat them by less then a minute, which meant that team happened to be pretty damn good to.

"Thank you. I'll be there tomorrow then. You said there would be preliminaries, correct? So that means there is over five teams already." As the chunin nodded, Kirabi couldn't help but shake his head. "Damn, that is impressive. We might have a good bunch here for the finals."

"Seems like it. It is very possible that every village that entered this exam might have someone in the finals. All but the two Rain teams are unaccounted for, at least in the tower." The chunin responded, excited as the exams might be pretty fun to watch this year as he would be the first to admit they were boring from time to time.

Nodding again, Kirabi patted the man on the back before beckoning him away as Yugito walked out of her room. Closing the door, he sighed as she seemed to be in the middle of self destructing. "You look like shit."

"I feel like shit." She responded before she started making a cup of coffee. "So I assume they're already waiting for the third portion?"

Kirabi yet again nodded before he walked over to Yugito before placing a hand on her shoulder. "They are, and there will be prelims as they already have too many and it is only halfway done. ...But when I leave to support them tomorrow, I want you to stay here."

Yugito growled as she nearly shattered the cup in her hand. Looking up into Kirabi's eyes, she point-blank asked him. "Why the hell not? I'm hearing because E wanted me to be and I have nothing better to do! What the hell am I suppose to do, piss my time away and go out looking for some random guy to fuck!"

Figuring he would get such a response from her, Kirabi sighed before he told her the truth. "I want you to stay away from Naruto. You've become too erratic to deal with when he is around, or even mentioned. Not only that, but you are causing him severe harm now. If you hadn't noticed, you snapped his wrist a few days ago."

Glowering at Kirabi, she refused to back off an inch. "Fine, I'll just go with the Hokage as an entourage due to my position. I'm sure he wouldn't say no knowing he could hurt future relations with us."

Getting ticked at her attitude, which normally was anything but this, he was ready to give her a warning punch again. She was seriously getting more and more difficult to cope with. "If you do, I will go straight to my brother. This is becoming too much of a problem and I will make damn sure you are dealt with properly. You can't keep doing this to him just because you don't know how to handle it!"

Jumping back, startled by Kirabi's sudden surge of both chakra and dominances, as he normally rather placid, Yugito wasn't sure how to respond. However, how he ended it hit her hard. Shaking slightly, she slumped down on the pillow near the table. "I know that... but I can't seem to stop myself. Nibi has been getting extraordinarily violent and she is passing it through me."

Knowing that much already, having noticed the influxes of the two tailed monster-cat's chakra, he sat down at her left before placing her coffee before her. "I've known for a while and that's why I asked for you not to come, but brother thought it was for the best. You haven't been handling letting him going off on his own very well. Hell, you've been frankly horrible at it."

"What the hell am I suppose to do?" Yugito snapped back at him, nearly knocking over her coffee in the process. "I can't coddle him any more as he is a ninja. Just because we aren't at war doesn't mean he should get any slack by that..."

"That isn't the point, Yugito. You weren't his tutor, you were his sister, hell a mother. You aren't suppose to cut off your love for him just because he is a ninja now. He knows what he is getting into and he needs someone to be there for him when he has a hard time." Kirabi told her off as he took of his sun glasses and looked her dead in the eyes.

Flinching as it was near impossible to look Kirabi in the eyes for anyone much less when he was angry, Yugito looked down and stayed quiet for a while before finally speaking. "What can I do? I don't want to fuck things up with him any further then they already are, but I might as we both know Nibi does have some influence over me just as I have some on her."

Thinking for a moment, Kirabi interlocked his fingers before closing his eyes. "Start acting like you did with him from the start. That will go a long way with mending the wounds you have caused not only him, but to you and your image. ...You might not be able to repair your relationship to the way it was, but it is worth it to try."

Nodding, refusing to cry, Yugito was about to walk back into her room when Kirabi spoke again. "Just remember, it will be a long time before he will be anywhere to what he was if ever... In these two years, I saw him turn from a rambunctious kid with a fiery spirit that would do anything to learn into a cold, calculating machine that shows sparks of his former being. ...I want to see that kid back, the one that wanted to become Raikage."

After Kirabi's short speech, she couldn't stop herself. She began crying as she ran into her room.

Sighing as he listened to her crying, Kirabi went to get a towel and clean up the coffee she had spilt on the way to her room. At least she was beginning to see what she had been doing wrong. "One step at a time Yugito and you'll have your brother back."

* * *

"God dammit Naruto!" Karui yelled out as Naruto yawned as he closed his eyes before turning away in his bed. "Would you say something every now and then? I almost undressed in front of you!"

"Not my fault. Be more aware of your surroundings. Now please, let me sleep. I'm bored as hell." Naruto responded as he pulled the covers over his head, not caring in the least that Karui had nearly bared her breasts to him just moments before. He had seen them before so he wasn't too interested.

At that exact moment, Omoi walked in with a handful of lollipops that neither could figure out where he got them. The next moment, he plopped into his bed before he started on a sour apple flavored pop. "So what I'd miss? Karui looks a little flushed and Naruto is trying to become a hermit... Ah dammit! Did she nearly strip in front of you again?"

As Karui's blush became full blown, Naruto's head peaked out of the covers before it nodded and slithered back into them like snake. Omoi simply cursed. "Oh come on! How come I can't get that kind of luck? I mean I have girls flocking to me left and right but they just don't come up to me and take their clothes off!"

"Omoi... Do you know why I never get beatings and you do?" Naruto asked, his head still firmly surrounded by the warmth of the blankets. "It is because you are a dumbass and say things like that in front of the girls."

Feeling the aura of dread descending upon him, Omoi was about bolt out of the room when the door opened revealing Kirabi with Yugito slightly on his tail. Smirking as he knew exactly what had just transpired without even seeing it, he simply laughed. "You three don't change!"

Wincing at the change remark, Yugito slowly stood besides Kirabi and attempted to look over at Naruto. After a few attempts, she could as she felt she didn't have the right to do so. She just couldn't face what she had done to him. Not yet.

"As you've probably noticed, there are a lot of people here. Too many for a normal tournament... So there is going to be a preliminary round, probably a single round of eliminations." Yugito softly spoke with a small smile on her face as she gazed over Karui and Omoi and tried to glance over Naruto, but failed and look towards the ground.

Raising his eyebrow at her reaction towards him, not sure what to say of it, Naruto shrugged as he pulled himself out of the covers. "So does that mean they are about to start them then?"

Kirabi nodded as he softly patted Yugito on the back, noticing her difficulty. "Sure does. We came to get you as they are about to start as the deadline is almost up."

"Well, let's get to it. Don't want to give any reason for them to not let us participate." Naruto commented as he stood up from his bed and stretched, making sure everything was in place.

Following Kirabi out the door, they took their places among the other gennin in front of Anko. So far there was only eight teams but to Naruto surprise, Konohamaru's team wasn't among them. But just before time was called, two teams suddenly burst through the door. It was Konohamaru's team and to his team's surprise, the Rain gennin they beat down early in the exam.

Looking down at her watch, Anko nodded before she boisterously yelled. "You guys just barely made it! Time is now up."

Both teams looked slightly relieved before nodding to one another before joining the rest of the gennin. This made Naruto wonder what happen, but it was completely possible they joined forces as they had the same scroll and ran into someone that had two of the scrolls they were looking for.

As it was unimportant, Naruto turned his attention to the Hokage as he appeared in a plum of smoke with a few other jounin. He was slightly unnerved by the caring gaze he gave him, he was about to turn away when the Hokage's gaze turned to all the gennin that had made. "I congratulate everyone that his made it this far. This is the most that have every reached this point ever in the history of our exams."

"However... There are too many to begin the final portion of the exam. You see, we have the chunin exams take the place of war. Before, our strength was determined by how well a village did in combat and the one that did the best gathered more attention and therefore more missions..." The Hokage stated before one of the jounin stepped forward.

"Seeing as I am the proctor of the next exam, it would be best I would explain." The sickly jounin stated before coughing a few times.

Nodding and letting him take over for him, Gekkou stepped forward before coughing slightly harsher then before. "As the Hokage stated, these exams are take to the place of war. As such, we cannot waste the time of potential clients with numerous battles as they came to see the best each village can offer."

"So we are going to reduce your number with a preliminary bout. If you do not want to participate, you may raise your hand and you will be allowed to leave and I will check your name off. Also, your team will not be penalized if you decide to leave now as from now on it is about individual skills." Hayate asked as he refrained from coughing as he gazed over the gennin.

After a few moments, no one raised there hand so he gave his clip board to one of the other jounin as they disappeared. "Alright then, please choose a balcony. The preliminaries will start shortly after your names have been registered into the system."

Doing as told, everyone walked towards the balcony their jounin sensei had taken all the Konoha gennin except for the elder group on one side while the rest took the other.

Leaning against the railing next to where Kirabi and Yugito had station themselves, Naruto yawned out loud as he noticed a small screen appear above the statue of the tiger seal. Seeing that it began flashing through names, he figured that it would generate the matches so he yawned again till the names were called out by the proctor.

"Uchiha Sasuke and Akado Yoroi, you will open the prelims." Hayate stated before both gennin walked into the arena below. Once he knew both were ready to go, he started the match.

Yoroi quickly went on the offense, activated a known chakra absorption technique to drain Sasuke of his chakra. As it seemed Sasuke chakra was very low and it hurt him to use, Sasuke was quickly in trouble. Unable to really put up a defense, it looked like the fight was about to be finished when a pulse of malevolent chakra spewed from him.

While it wasn't demonic, there was no doubt it was not natural chakra. This made Naruto frown but he noticed Sasuke seemed to reel in the chakra that tried to force its way out. He wasn't the only one frowning as neither Kirabi or Yugito liked what they had seen either along with a few of the Konoha jounin.

But it seemed that burst of chakra allowed Sasuke to gain the upper hand as he briefly activated his Sharingan before kicking Yoroi into the air and using a technique to get behind him in mid air. Before the elder Konoha gennin could react, the fight was over as Sasuke delivered a powerful mid air combo ending with a kid to the gut as soon they reached to ground.

"Seeing Akado Yoroi is unable to continue, Uchiha Sasuke is the victor!" Gekkou announced, not that anyone didn't know that was how it finished. Sasuke's sensei quickly body flickered away with him, probably to take care of what the malevolent chakra.

Watching the board, he quickly got his next to names before calling them down. "Oboro and Yamanaka Ino, your fight is next."

Knowing the Rain gennin was grinning as he liked his opponent, Naruto couldn't blame him as he watched the blonde haired girl enter the arena. This girl obviously wasn't a big threat and even though he had pummeled then Rain gennin into submission, he could easily take her own. Or that was what he thought but the fight completely surprised him.

He was right as Oboro started the fight dominating Ino using a mixture of his Haze Clones and hand-to-hand combat. It didn't look like the girl would last long especially when he started bringing senbon into the fight. The girl was on the ropes and had no option, so she used her family jutsu.

Of all the rotten luck, it actually succeeded as Oboro apparently didn't know of the Yamanaka's Mind Jutsus so she was in control of his body. She had him at her will, and she nearly screwed herself over as she took too long to surrender the fight. Any longer and Oboro would have regained control and probably put a senbon into her skull.

"Due to forfeit, Yamanaka Ino is the victor." Gekkou announced the winner once more as he sighed as there hadn't been a good fight yet. Looking at the names on the board, he hoped the next fight would change the trend. "Inuzuka Kiba and Omoi, please come down if you wish to compete."

Glowing at his chance to fight after almost five days of waiting, Omoi simply jumped the railing and landed in the arena. Not being one to be outdone, Kiba did the same but almost fell on his face as he nearly lost his balance.

Rolling his eyes, Naruto sighed as he knew this fight was over. While Omoi could be very stupid at times, he actually quite intelligent and extraordinarily observant of his opponent. He almost refused to act without knowing what his opponent could do or if he saw an opening to end the fight.

Soon as Gekkou gave the command to start the fight, Kiba was the first on the attack and tried to engage Omoi into hand-to-hand. While Omoi had no problem with this, he was purely acting on defense as he wanted to see what Kiba could do before making a move that could cost him.

Yet, Kiba was fast and it was hard to block and avoid each of his strikes. So Omoi had to react otherwise he would take unnecessary damage. So aiming for a leg sweep, Omoi watched Kiba lunge over it and try to, well for lose of better words, tackle him. So he simply rolled underneath him letting his forward momentum take him further way while creating some distance.

'Okay, this kid is pretty damn good in close range. If I use my katana, that will negate that however. But if he has any long range attacks, I might need to watch out for those. They might catch me off guard and give him the edge.' Omoi thought to himself as he went to draw his katana.

Seeing this, Kiba knew better then to get close now. While he was efficient in close range, it was one of the cardinal rules his sister and mother beat into his head. Avoid fight close range if his opponent was proficient with a sword and stick with his long range arsenal, only getting close if he managed to disarm him.

Reaching into his pouch, he threw a few kunai towards Omoi, which he easily deflected. However, connected to one at the end happened to be a smoke bomb and when he deflected it the bomb activated. Cursing, he knew he had to get out of the smoke, he was almost out of it when he caught the sound of what seemed to be something swirling at a high velocity.

On instinct alone, Omoi ducked to see a giant spiral of grey before he suddenly was forced out of the smoke as another slammed into his back. Gritting his teeth as he rolled forward, he noted there was two spiraling vortexes that stopped by one another, revealing there to be two Kibas.

'No, only one is the real one. His dog is missing so he must have quickly used the Beast Human Clone. I have to figure out which one is him as knocking out his dog will do nothing for me.' Omoi thought to himself before readying his katana and preparing for yet another spiraling assault.

He wasn't disappointed as both spiraled towards him, splitting apart and preparing to use a pincer maneuver against him. To avoid this, he simply jumped over the first piercing fang but the second quickly ascended towards him, giving him almost no time to recover as it ran into him.

Cushioning the blow with his chakra, Omoi hit the ground before quickly getting up and sheathing his katana. It had no use at the moment, so he could safely say he wasn't going to need it. This kid was getting on his nerves. Sure, his abilities weren't a complete mystery as he knew a little of his clan, but seeing it in action was a whole different thing.

Seeing them prepare for yet another pincer maneuver, Omoi was ready this time as he jumped over the first. Just as the first began to ascend towards him, he had finished the seals he had been going through before pushing his hands forward and a ball of lighting shot forward and collided with its target.

Once the Kiba hit the ground it turned into a plum of smoke revealing it had been indeed the clone. Cursing as he still had the gennin to deal with, Omoi used a quick replacement with the said dog as Kiba attempted to attack him from behind.

It easily halted the boy's attack and allowed him to unsheathe his katana once more and with a quick slash, he cut into the quads. Hearing the boy yell as he fell to all fours, Omoi quickly followed with the katana pointed towards the back of his neck.

He didn't have to say anything as Gekkou ended the battle immediately as he knew there was no way Kiba could get out of this. "Due to TKO, Omoi is the winner!"

Without hesitation, Omoi sheathed his katana before heading up the stairs as the medics watching the fight rushed in to take care of Kiba and get him to the hospital to recover. Smirking as he walked back to his team, he leaned back against the wall feeling pretty good. "Piece of cake."

"Didn't look like it." Karui commented as she couldn't help but make fun of her team mate's performance. "It looked like the kid gave you some trouble before you decided to get serious."

"I agree." Naruto added as he was quite content on watching the fights and analyzing what everyone was capable of. "You analyzed far more then what you needed instead of testing what he was capable of. You sustained unnecessary damage because of that."

As both Kirabi and Yugito nodded their heads in agreement, Omoi was grabbing his head in frustration and nearly yelled out at them. "Come on! Give me a break, I won!"

Chuckling, Naruto couldn't keep a straight face nor could the others. Of course this made Omoi even more frustrated and ready to give each of them a beat down when Gekkou's voice brought them back to earth. "Abumi Zaku and Ookami Kuro, will you come down for your fight?"

As Zaku simply jumped down ready to fight, Kuro, the only girl part of the mist team, simply walked down the stairs. However, when Naruto saw her he had to stop for a moment as she looked extremely familiar as she looked a lot like the new Mizukage, Mei. The only difference was that she had straight blonde hair and wore purple instead. There was the daggers she had strapped to her side too... But his attention else were.

"Damn, she has a nice bust." Omoi commented, almost drooling as she was right around his age so he wouldn't mind taking a shot at her.

Groaning as Karui smacked him upside the head, Naruto sighed. Why couldn't he keep his mouth shut about things like that? Sure, he looked to as he was very interested but he didn't say it out loud because he feared retaliation. Now if they were with a group of guys that was a different thing, but they weren't so he couldn't mouth of and say the first words that came to his mind.

Turning his attention back to the arena and more to the fight about to start, Naruto watched interestedly as Zaku started first with an enormous burst of wind. His attack caught his attention as while there was chakra being used, the fact that he required no hand seals was amazing. Could it have been some sort of adjustment?

Koru wasn't very bothered by his attack as she managed to keep herself from moving too much, but a lot of her techniques were instantly taken away. Still, she kept her stoic face and quickly charged her opponent, her hands reaching for her daggers.

Zaku slowed her down with another Slicing Sound Wave and wounding her in the process, leaving small gashes across her skin. However, to his surprise she simply dissolved into a puddle of water. On instinct, he turned around to see Koru right behind him with her daggers ready to strike. As quickly as he saw this, he attempted to use his technique once more but she had caught on.

She noticed the small openings in his hands and could tell those were tunnels that generated the wind. Without hesitation, she stabbed her daggers into the said tunnels knowing he was about to blast her away before jumping back and taking cover as Zaku indeed using his Slicing Sound Wave once more.

The results were splattered onto the pavement as Zaku's arms couldn't handle the amount of pressure that had built up. The bones in his arms snapped and his arms almost literally exploded as blood spewed from the points were the wind was releasing itself.

Hayate quickly intervened and called the fight, wanting to get the medics out quickly to take care of the now downed Sound gennin. "Due to TKO, the victor is Ookami Kuro!"

Waiting till the medics arrived, Kuro spoke in a low tone that was barely heard by them. "I would like my daggers back as soon as possible, so please take care of him quickly."

With that, Kuro walked up the stairs and just as she passed Naruto she suddenly stopped before taking out a picture and looking back at him. Nodding to herself, she pulled out a scroll before handing it to him. "Lady Mizukage wanted you to have this. She didn't say what it was about, but it was for your eyes only."

Raising his eyebrow for a moment, Naruto carefully took the scroll before sliding it into his coat. "Thank you and tell Lady Mei that I hope to see her before the final exams begin."

"I will do so, Sir Uzumaki." Kuro responded before rejoining her team, both her team mates wondering what she had to say to the blonde. Only the jounin didn't seem too to care, probably because he knew.

Everyone outside of Yugito also was wondering what was with that exchange, she having been present with E when he took Naruto to his meeting with the newly instated Mizukage last month.

Karui being the most curious waited for a moment before asking seeing as no one else was. "Naruto, what was with that? And why in the world did she call you Sir Naruto?"

"My mother was daughter to a lord of the Whirlpool before it was annexed by the Mist. As such, even though my mother moved to Konoha and I now am a part of the Cloud, I am minor nobility of the Mist." Naruto responded as he turned his attention onto board, waiting for the next to two fights.

Seeing he wasn't in the next fight, he sighed as Gekkou called out the two fighters, Hyuuga Hinata and Kagari, one of the Rain gennin. However, he didn't have to continue as Yugito did for him. "And being a noble, even if minor, the Mist respects that he is now a Cloud shinobi but wishes for Naruto to perform some of his _lordly duties_ in the Land of the Whirlpool as the old man is about to pass away."

Catching onto Yugito's disgust in the sentence, Kirabi immediately understood what the Mist wanted of Naruto. "Well, in order for that to happen we would have to benefit from it and if not there isn't anything that can be done. I doubt the Mist raise hell for such a trivial thing and just place someone there as the Lord."

Ignoring the conversation, Naruto turned his attention to the fight that had just started. Well, he really couldn't call it a fight. The Hyuuga was tearing apart Kagari. Not literally, but she was disarming everything he attempted to do.

Her Byukugan simply saw through all of his haze clones making them utterly useless. He was smart enough to stop using them after the first few tries, but even his missile weapons were pretty much useless as Hinata could see them a mile away and batted them away from her. But the important factor was, the few seconds they engaged in hand-to-hand.

The fight was basically decided by that as a few blows and Kagari was easily on the wrong end of the assault and backed off. However, everything was practically useless against her. Nothing he did could trick her, he didn't have any big jutsu that could put the girl out and worse of all he couldn't get in close range.

A few minutes later, the fight was over as Hinata finally closed the distance and had knocked out the Rain gennin. "Victory goes to Hyuuga Hinata by way of knock out!"

Yawning as the fight was extraordinarily boring, Naruto was ready to go asleep when the name the board flash caught his attention. Gaara. That was someone he wanted to see fight but the other name that was going against him made him worry. Could the young boy handle this guy?

"Will Sarutobi Konohamaru and Sabaku Gaara please come down?" Gekkou asked as he really couldn't force either to come down. However, in this case he hoped one would forfeit. He had seen the surveillance video of what Gaara did to the other team from the rain and didn't want the Hokage himself to worry his grandson was in danger.

Almost immediately sand began to swirl around the arena before Gaara appeared in the middle, simply waiting for his opponent. The bloodlust rolling off of him was apparent to all of those that could sense it and Naruto began to regret getting him started as he didn't want anything to happen to the young Sarutobi.

However, against the advice of his jounin sensei, the famous copy-cat Hatake Kakashi, Konohamaru eagerly jumped down and was ready to fight. He obvious couldn't sense the fear inducing rage that was coming off the red head, but there was nothing that could be done now as he wanted to fight.

The fight almost didn't begin as Hayate wanted to call the fight right away. While Konohamaru was good, he was still very young and had a lot of room to grow. The fact that he and his team made it this far was just probably from sheer determination and will. And he knew they still had to be weak from dealing with Orochimaru...

However, despite his better judgment, he started the fight as he could see the Hokage himself was ready to stop the battle. It wasn't a matter if it needed to be, just when.

Before Konohamaru could even move, sand poured out of the gourd on Gaara back and leapt towards him knocking him into the wall. However, the boy was resilient and bounced back immediately and dodged the second wave of sand and headed straight for Gaara. This move proved to be fool hearty as the sand wrapped around his ankles and lifted him off the ground and threw him back into the wall.

Gritting his teeth, Konohamaru quickly got back up before going through a series of seals before breathing out a stream of flame towards the sand coming towards him. The sand halted from the blow and Konohamaru quickly sprinted to Gaara and jumped towards him, planning on giving him a firm knee to the face.

But it never reached and his knee felt like it hit a brick wall. Landing on his butt, he rubbed his knee for a second before seeing it happened to be sand that had blocked his attack. Quickly getting back up, he tried to punch and kick him a few times but just like the knee the sand had responded and blocked his kicks without Gaara so much looking at him.

Getting unnerved by this, Konohamaru was about to attack when a wave of sand knocked him back and skidded him across the ground. However, as he stood up Gaara's attention turned to him before he spoke with a flat voice. "Is that all?"

At his words, Konohamaru froze. Was the guy in front of him even trying? Was this why everyone was telling him not to fight this guy?

"Someone has to stop this fight... It will be a slaughter if they don't. The kid doesn't stand a chance!" Naruto yelled out as he was ready to jump in himself, knowing Gaara was too much of a match for him. Hell, he had warned both Karui and Omoi not to fight him and they could beat Konohamaru easily.

Kirabi simply put a hand on Naruto's shoulder before looking down at the fight. "Not yet... He still has some belief he can win left."

"So what, we are going to wait until he has none left?" Naruto yelled back as he tried to break his sensei's grip.

Things weren't so much different on the other side of the balcony as Lee and Shino were ready to jump down and defend their fellow Konoha ninja. "Neji, let go me! We must help him before his flames of youth are diminished!"

While Shino said nothing, not wanting to even agree with that statement, he struggled in his sensei's grip before Kakashi suddenly spoke. "Just wait... I won't let anything happen to him. This was his choice, let him see it out for a little longer."

Back in the ring side, Konohamaru gathered his courage as he stood up once more before pulling a lone kunai out of his pouch. "Just you wait, this fight hasn't even started!"

Suddenly, Konohamaru suddenly left a gash in his other hand as his kunai sliced into it. Gaara simply raised his eyebrow, unsure of why the boy did that before he recognized the hand seals as a summoning. But he was expecting a... Well bigger one instead of the pint sized one that was summoned instead.

"Oh come on! I was trying to summon Enma and I got you again Riki!" Konohamaru yelled as he looked at the small primate he had summoned. Well, it wasn't too small as it reached his hip, but to Konohamaru he was small compared to the other summons he had seen.

"Don't blame me! You're the one that doesn't use the right amount of chakra!" Riki yelled back at Konohamaru, angered that the young boy was yelling at him for no reason once more.

Getting annoyed at the sight, Gaara simply batted them away from his sight. These two, weren't even worth his time. He would let mother do the work and take care of them.

Recovering from their daze, Riki looked over towards the origin of the sand before he started barking and screaming at him. However, another wave of sand shut him up as he jumped over it and landed beside Konohamaru. "Alright, this guy has it coming! Transform!"

Suddenly, Riki turned into a long bo-staff and Konohamaru caught him on instinct. While it was long for Konohamaru, it actually was much smaller then Enma's staff that his grandfather used. Still, he wasn't going to complain as he needed all the help he could get.

Seeing another burst of sand heading towards them, Konohamaru headed straight for instead of trying to dodge and swung his new staff into the sand. To his surprise, among others, the sand dispersed from the blow. Not letting this stop him, he continued straight forward to Gaara hoping this could get through his and barrier.

As he arrived, the sand attempted to swallow his feet but Konohamaru jumped over and brought his staff down. However, due to pour aiming he missed Gaara completely making the red head simply look at him as if he was a fool. Konohamaru only seemed to smirk as he wasn't aiming to see if he could hit Gaara, but the barrier.

Landing, Konohamaru suddenly turned on his heals with agility much greater then most possessed and swung his staff straight towards Gaara's face. The sand reacted and guarded, but Konohamaru had anticipated this with his previous stricken and sent more force then before. The staff broke from the sand barely hindered before smashing across Gaara's face, making the red head feel a slight amount of pain and surprise.

Gaara twitched at the feeling. This boy... had hit him? That shouldn't be possible. Not even a lot of the jounin he knew couldn't touch him. How was this brat of all people able to pull such a thing off? Turning to his opponent, Gaara snarled. No, he would not stand for this.

When Gaara turned to face him, Konohamaru's eyes widen in shock as he saw sand crumble from his cheek. There was a second barrier of sand that he was outside of his skin. So even if he got through the first wave, he still had to get through the second? He wasn't so sure he could pull that off.

"You... You hit me." Gaara stated, his bloodlust beginning to seep into his voice. "I shall... Kill you for that."

Now fully exposed to the bloodlust he couldn't feel before, Konohamaru froze as fear coursed through his body. Not even when they fought that man in the forest of death or his snake had he felt this much fear. He could feel it in his bones. This guy wanted to kill him and nothing would stop him.

Being frozen, Konohamaru was knocked back into the wall while Riki had turned into a plum of smoke, being hit hard enough to return him to his world. Gaara didn't stop there as his sand began to wrap around Konohamaru and raise him into the air. "Sabaku Kyu."

His siblings and teacher knew this fight was over. Baki was trying to tell Gaara to stop, but the boy wouldn't listen to him like he was now. There was nothing he could do as he saw his hand begin to clench.

"Sabaku Soso!"

Seconds after he had closed his fist, everyone looked down at the arena to see what had happened. There was no blood nor was there any trace of were Konohamaru had gone. All that was left was the sand that fell to the ground harmlessly.

Frowning as his mother had not been satisfied Gaara looked for the culprit that kept him from pleasing his mother. He found him along with the boy standing on top of the tiger seal, his sword drawn and pointed towards Gaara. "Hey, how about not picking those weaker then you when your true target is right here?"

Naruto stood confidently on top of the statue, his sword held in his left hand in attempt to deceive others in thinking his right was still injured. He didn't buckle at the look of murder in Gaara's eyes nor his aura of malice. All it did was excite him, hoping there would be someone that could challenge him.

"Why save him? He is weak." Gaara spoke, commanding Naruto to tell him more then asking. Why would he risk his skin to protect someone that couldn't stand on his own?

Shaking his head, Naruto simply looked back at Konohamaru before giving him a confident grin as he turned back to Gaara. "Because that is the other thing the strong must do. While we are to crush those before us, we are to protect the weak as that was the job we were given. And, just because they are weak doesn't mean they won't become strong. All it takes is the right motivation and even the weakest can become stronger then anyone."

Narrowing his eyes, Gaara still didn't understand. Was he suppose to do more then kill those weaker then he was? His mother said otherwise, but obviously this one before him was strong yet believed differently which his mother told him was weakness. So was he weak then?

"What is he to you? He is nothing more then an enemy ninja." Gaara stated, trying to solve why he would protect the fool he had saved from his wrath and to sate his curiosity.

Naruto sadly smiled as he closed his eyes. "Because my life was given to protect this village at birth from my village, twice. Even if I'm not a ninja of this village, it is my birth home and I will do what I can to help it. I feel I owe that much."

Confused at his words, Gaara tried to make sense of them but he couldn't. What did he owe them if he was given for their protection? Nothing... So why did he feel he owed them?

Saying nothing more, Gaara turned from Naruto before appearing besides his siblings and teacher.

Seeing this, Naruto sheathed his blade before turning to Konohamaru before crossing his arms. "And you are a fool. I told you when we first met you weren't ready for this and now... You know why. There are those that will kill you without provocation, without reason. You must become stronger, because next time... There might not be someone looking after you."

Without waiting for a response, Naruto leapt over to his team and landed on the rail by sticking chakra to his feet. Sliding back on the platform, Gekkou called the fight in Gaara's favor before Kakashi took Konohamaru and brought him over to his worried friends.

Feeling a hand placed on his back, Naruto froze as it obviously wasn't Kirabi's but strong enough to make him worry. Looking back, he was surprised to see it was Yugito and she was smiling at him. While that was odd, she only nodded before returning back to were she stood moments before.

Confused by that alone, Naruto slowly turned around further unsure what was going on with Yugito and her mood swings. Deciding to let that go for now and pretend it never happened, he noticed that the board had stopped on two names. "Rock Lee and Yakushi Kabuto, you are next."

Raising his hand, Kabuto shook his head before he readjusted his glasses. "I don't feel like fight now."

Nodding, Gekkou rewarded Lee with the victory. Strangely enough, Lee looked frustrated that he would get a chance to fight to prove he deserved to be in the next round. As the board went through the remaining names once more, it landed on two. "Haruno Sakura, will you come down. Your opponent will be Karui."

Karui only grinned but before she could even jump down as she was ready to fight, Sakura did something that surprised her. "I don't wish to fight... I know I will lose."

Frowning, denied of a fight, Karui began to rant and rave. "Oh come on! I want to fight! Put me up against that kid with the bowl hair cut and don't count it! We both want a fight!"

"Sorry, rules are rules. Karui is the winner." Hayate responded, somewhat disappointed that the last two fights had been forfeited before it they had even begun. Seeing the names on the board, he nodded to himself before announcing it. "Sabaku no Temari, you are to fight Suyusuke Talmor."

Temari jumped down, ready to fight and prove that she was worthy of becoming a chunin. She had been held back for the sake of her brothers, to be on their team. They never held her back in combat. In fact, they almost made her useless in combat as Gaara crushed everything before him and Kankuro caught those sneaking off.

Talmor jumped down as well and opposed her. With a simple sword on his back, it was a sure thing that he was probably trained in swordplay. The fact that he dressed like a certain missing ninja named Zabuza helped enforce that truth.

Soon as the fight started, both pulled out their respective weapon and gagged the other for a moment. Talmor was the first to strike and he quickly rushed her and attack with a high stroke, aimed for her collar bone.

She blocked with her choice of weapon, sparks flying off as the bladed dragged down the metal as Temari reflected the force of the blow away from her. Using her speed, she pulled a few shuriken from a pocket in her outfit and threw them to his stomach.

Jumping to the side, his next sword stroke was blocked yet again by her weapon of choice causing more sparks. Getting annoyed of her continuing to block his attack, he went to disarm her by knocking it away with a violent flick. However, instead of being knocked away it simply opened to reveal it was a giant battle fan.

The look on Temari's face couldn't have gotten wide as he had fallen right into her trap. With a snap of her wrists, a great burst of wind caught Talmor and picked him off his feet and drove him into the wall. However, she didn't stop there as she continued swinging a few more times, adding to the burst of power of wind.

As the dust settled, Talmor was out cold and not even with a ten second count would he have gotten up so the decision was easily made be Hayate. "Sabaku Temari is the winner!"

Smirking at her victory, Temari sat on her fan as it began to float before she was once again beside her siblings and put it away. She had always wanted to fight a sword user, just to see why wind mistresses feared them so. Her confidence only grew as if that was a swordsman she had no fear for any of these sword wielders... Except for the guy that kept getting in Gaara's way. She was becoming afraid of him as he stood up to Gaara.

After the medics removed Talmor from the wall, the next fight was called between Tsuchi Kin and Mubi of the Rain. The battle between the two illusionists was no contest.

While Kin was probably the better equipped of the two, she couldn't use her illusions on what she couldn't see. From the first second, Mubi had literally disappeared and his clones appeared all over the place. Knowing their weren't solid, she tried listening for him but there was too much noise being made to accurately figure out where he was.

In moments, Mubi's haze clone overwhelmed her. She was forced to throw her senbon with illusion bells equipped over the entire arena in hope to catch him. However, it was meaningless as he had her trapped in her own web and the genjutsu was affecting her instead of him. He had simply had went underground to avoid her bells.

Seeing that Kin really couldn't do anything, Gekkou called the battle as it just was never a fight. "Winner is Mubi!"

Sighing at yet another battle that wasn't very exciting, Naruto scratched his hair underneath his bandana as it was itching. He would have itched other parts, but he currently among female presence so it was best not to. "This is boring... Can't I get a fight yet?"

"Don't worry Sir Naruto, I bet you'll be coming up soon. I am quite interested to see you fight especially after saving that boy." Koru stated as she walked over besides him, getting quite bored as well. She had kind of wishing she didn't go so early as most of the interesting people had already gone. "Have you read the scroll yet, seeing as you have bountiful time?"

Nodding as that was true, Naruto ignored Hayate calling for Akimichi Chouji and Tsurigi Misumi as he could read the names just fine and pulled out the scroll and unraveled. Punching Omoi in the face to keep him from reading it, Naruto scanned over it before looking confused. "What the? She honestly doesn't expect me to agree with this, does she?"

"I am unsure what Lady Mizukage means as well. I know she will arrive her before the other Kages once word gets out that at least one of her team has made it. She also said she wanted to talk to you to explain it." Koru stated as if she knew what was on the scroll the entire time, which was likely.

"Oh, so you are here team? That explains why you dress like her. Let me guess, she's your hero or something like that?" Naruto asked as he ignored the start of the fight. It didn't look very intriguing except for the pudgy boy growing triple his size and become a bowling ball and making Misumi the pin.

Blushing, Koru simply nodded as straightened her outer dress as it was falling off and her mesh undershirt didn't really do anything to hide her bare essentials. "Yes, she has inspired our nation after overthrowing the Forth. She has invited many of the missing ninja back as they only left because of him and has gotten us back onto the right track after a year in office."

"Sounds good... OH!" Naruto attention suddenly turned to the fight as Chouji barreled over Misumi and flattened him in the process. "Man, I would not want be in that position. That looked painful."

Koru simply nodded, seeing the hit and wincing as that really looked painful. He had literally flown into the air from the force of the hit then as he was falling back was hit again and into a wall before the spinning ball known as Chouji slammed him into the wall. "If he gets up from that, he has to be one tough son of a bitch."

Everyone in ear shot nodded in agreement. Not only was that one of the most painful hits they had seen before, they were all pretty sure that would have hurt them and a lot of them were jounin.

With a ten count, not that it was needed, Chouji was declared the winner and hurriedly ran up to his teacher before grunting in victory. "Oh yeah! You owe me dinner tonight, Asuma-sensei!"

Watching one of Sarutobi's son's grumble gave Naruto great amusement as he had a good feeling the Akimichi had one hell of an appetite. Shaking that out of his head, he watched to bored while silently chanting and hoping it would be him before cursing once. "Dammit... Am I going to be last?"

"Yeah, they wanted you to suffer." Karui hummed as she loved watching the blonde get frustrated and watching his patience wear thin. He never liked to be last in anything and if he happened to be the last one called here she wouldn't be able to keep in the 'HA' that was growing inside.

Grumbling after flicking her off, Naruto thumped his head against the railing of the balcony as he watched Kinta Dosu and Tenten get ready to fight. "This one better not be boring..."

"All of these have been boring." Yugito added, not meaning to add to Naruto's misery but did anyways. "I mean outside of some of the miraculous comebacks, girly's fight here and the watching the red head fight, they all have been lopsided. I will have to admit though, seeing that bowling ball match was pretty humorous."

Kuro smiled at the compliment she was given before turning to the arena to watch the fight, trying to ignore the constant banging of Naruto's head on the railing.

The fight started off quickly as Tenten was using missile weaponry with pin point accuracy. Not one time could Dosu dodge with being hit by another missile. In fact, he stuck to blocking after the first few hits were too close for comfort. However, she also didn't know of his secret weapon so he was quite comfortable with simply blocking.

This made Tenten stop as she wondered what was happening. While she couldn't see it, there was a smile on his face. Did he know something she didn't? Not wanting to find out, she simply moved from her spot as she began throwing missile weaponry at him on the run.

She did this as she had seen the extent of damage caused to her team mate's ear. She knew one of the sound gennin had used a sound based attack that ruptured that ear and until he got to the medics here at the tower the ear was practically useless. Going on gut instinct that this was the guy that used it, she decided that moving as much as she could would keep her from harms way.

Now Dosu was annoyed. The girl did know about his attack and was making sure to stay away from it as hitting a moving targets was a very difficult thing for him to do as it had to be an exact hit. The only other way was if he could use it was if he made contact with her...

Smirking as he had a new goal, Dosu began knocking the missile weaponry away while making a cut straight for her, weaving out of the way of her attacks.

"No you don't!" Tenten yelled as she knew he wanted to get in close and like it or not, she had difficulties fighting guys in close range as they were simply just stronger then she was.

Jumping away, she managed to get extraordinarily high altitude from it before two scrolls appeared followed by what seemed to be thousands of different kind of weapons. To the normal eye, it would have been if they were hanging in mid air but to the train it was easily seen that each one was connected by a thin wire.

Seeing this new attack he was running straight into, Dosu had two options. Stop and shield himself or run straight for her. Both ways he would end up with injury, but only with the last could he insure victory.

Passing by the weapons thrown at him, ignoring those that cut into his flesh and reflecting those that would have caused more severe injuries, Dosu threw his arm back before extending it and hitting Tenten square in the face before a loud ring was heard through the arena.

Those with acute hearing were in pain enough as it was, however, Tenten short but painful cry pierced through as they watched the girl plummet to the ground and hit with a dull thud, her face blank.

"This fight is over! Winner is Kinta Dosu!" Hayate yelled as the medics rushed to the down gennin, hoping there was something they could do. Her team mates were immediately besides her trying to get her to come to but nothing seemed to be working. The only good news was that her heart was still pumping.

Wincing at the scene, Naruto knew that it was a very traumatic experience to watch a friend die even more so if they lived and became brain dead. From that attack and where it had hit, it was amazing that her heart was still going. To his utter amazement, she was slowly coming to and even began to try and talk.

As they carted her off, only the bowl haired gennin followed as the last person of their team hadn't fought and the jounin would stay behind to help him if needed.

Once the ring was cleared and everyone was calmer, the board flickered into life once more and the next battle was announced. Feeling it would be impolite to groan after what had just happened, Naruto instead settled for a simply plop of his head to his forearms. He was getting so bored.

However, before the fight began Shikamaru simply raised his hand and quit. "I don't want to fight. If it was against anyone else, I would at least try but Shino has the complete edge over me thanks to his blood gift."

Not being able to argue with him, as it was a known fact that the Nara clan respected the Aburame clan as one of the few that could easily defeat them almost every single time. Watching the board flicker again, the next battle was finally set. "Will Hyuuga Neji and Uzumaki Naruto report to the arena?"

"Finally! If I had been dead last there would have been heads rolling!" Naruto yelled, finally glad to get into the ring and prove his worth. Also, he wanted to give everyone left a show as it had been quite boring up to now.

In a blur of crimson, he appeared before Hayate just as Neji walked down from his balcony and turned to face him. "I just want you to know before we start, you have my condolence for what happened to Tenten and I hope she will be alright."

Almost breaking his indifference, Neji simply nodded before offering a small acknowledgment. "Thank you, but now we must fight so I hope you can put your concern behind you for this fight."

"Naturally." Naruto responded as his left hand reached to his sword's handle. "Now, may we begin proctor?"

With a simple gesture, Gekkou did so. "Let the match begin!"

Neji quickly activated his Byukugan as he charged straight for Naruto, not wanting to give him the time to pull his blade out. However, Naruto suddenly appeared to his right side and with his knee coming up to his gut while he held him in place with his other arm. Bursting around him, Neji twirled out of his grip before trying to sweep Naruto off his feet.

Naruto jumped into the air and with a quick snap of his wrist, he unsheathed his sword and brought it down onto Neji. The Hyuuga simply turned into a log before trying to strike Naruto from behind. Not even trying to dislodge his sword from the log, he used it look a hammer and swung it toward Neji.

Seeing the arc, Neji could tell it was coming for his head so he simply duck below and continued his charge. However, just as he tried to land a blow with his finger tips, Naruto turned his entire body and refused to allow the jyuken to have its full effect before slamming the log his sword was jammed into his stomach.

Gasping as it split apart, Neji rolled away from the blow and cursed seeing the blade was now free. He wouldn't admit it out loud as many Hyuuga wouldn't, their clan hated swordsman. Outside of those who could use the Heavenly Whirl, they happened to make it very difficult for them to get in close and if they did they had to end the fight quickly.

Smirking as he knew just how to do that, he shifted his stance as he began to locate his chakra points, tenketsu as his clan called them. However, he noticed something odd as he tried to locate them. Every time he would spot one a dark aura of crimson chakra would wash over it and make invisible to his eyes for a brief moment.

This he didn't like, but he managed to find all the locations in very quick amount of time, especially for a ninja in the middle of combat. "You are in my range of divination!"

Naruto was about to launch attack when he heard this. He was in range for an attack? With his sword he should have the range advantage unless he meant something else. Wanting to see what the Hyuuga was planning, Naruto simply held his sword across his chest in a guard and waited to see what he would do.

Neji didn't hesitate as he rushed towards Naruto, noticing the guard but was confident that he could get around it. In fact he did as the blade harmlessly passed by his head as he moved just enough to avoid it. It did cut into his shoulder, but that wouldn't affect him for he would end this.

As soon as he started, he hit the first two points he could see and quick followed by hitting the next two and doubled it getting faster and faster until he reached sixty-four.

Deactivating his Byukugan, Neji sighed as he was hoping for more of a challenge as he turned to look at his opponent. "This fight is over as I'm sure you can sense it. I've closed all of your chakra points off, so you can't use chakra."

Naruto looked at his arm, noting each of the spots he hit were slightly bruised. But he said chakra follow was reduced? That wasn't right as he could feel it flowing just fine. "You sure, I didn't feel a thing. Maybe your eyes or broken or something."

He punctuated his statement with a flare of chakra and forcing Neji to quickly activate his Byukugan to see that somehow each of his tenketsu were still open. He wasn't sure how, but they had opened and that left him stun as he saw each of them close. Snarling, he snapped back into defense as there was something different about this guy if he could negate that jutsu. All he had left was his secret weapon and that wasn't complete.

Naruto was lying a little, he did feel his chakra get cut off however his chakra points were instantly opened by small pulses of Kyuubi's chakra that were almost completely unnoticeable. However, if he was to get hit by that again he would be forced to rely on his demon and he didn't want that so he had to end this fight.

Flashing through a set of hand seals despite still maintaining his grip of his sword, the yellow orb began glowing dangerously before the blade suddenly erupted in lighting as Naruto lightly muttered the name. "Raitingu kirite(Lighting Cutter)."

Neji was instantly on guard, knowing this would be extraordinarily dangerous. A blade that was covered in lighting would be very hard to deal with so he had not choice and hope this would cancel it as he began to swirl his chakra around, seeing Naruto swing the blade towards him.

But faster then he could see, pain ripped through his left shoulder as he felt volts of electricity fill his body. He saw the wave of the electricity rip through his arm, but he didn't feel the blade. It was only a shallow cut, but still enough to break his concentration and keep him from attempting the heavenly whirl.

Seeing yet another slash coming to the right of his stomach, Neji tried to jump back and prepare himself for the whirl when the blade suddenly and seemingly lengthened and slashed through his stomach. His eyes widened from the pain and he couldn't help but yell as the electricity shocked through his body.

Falling to one knee, trying to keep himself off he looked up to see Naruto holding his blade straight to his face. "Admit your defeat. I could easily make this blade much more dangerous then what I am. ...I am sure you can sense that."

Growling in his throat, Neji had a dilemma. While he indeed could feel that his opponent was holding back the power of his blade, which was quite humiliating, he also had his pride and it would be crushed if he gave up so easily. He could always take this opportunity to use the whirl, but he doubted the blonde wouldn't be able to see that coming.

So no matter how he looked at this, surrender was the best option as Neji's eyes returned to normal. "Proctor, I admit my defeat."

"Winner by way of surrender, Uzumaki Naruto." Hayate announced, slightly impressed from what he saw from both gennin and admitting to himself that he wished both could go to the finals.

Releasing his lighting cutter, Naruto sheathed before shaking his right wrist a little. "I guess my deception wasn't need as I bet you saw that from the start."

Picking himself up, Neji nodded as the cuts would heal though he rather wanted medical help and to see how Tenten was doing. "Yes, I can clearly see your wrist was completely fine. However, I did notice your swing seemed to be slower then what it was when you rescued Konohamaru."

"Man... It is going to be hard to keep anything hidden with you Hyuuga around. Your family sees everything!" Naruto mock complained as he honestly didn't care if he was able to notice that. He worked hard to be able to keep his swing speed with both hands about equal as he never knew if something would happen to one of his arms.

Not caring in the least, Neji went with the medics that came to treat him before Naruto ran up the balcony wall and joined his team. "Ah, that feels better!"

"You complain about me analyzing too much yet you do the same thing." Omoi growled as he glared at Naruto, wanting to get back at him for earlier and the fact he nearly knocked a tooth out when he punched him not to long ago.

Naruto simply shrugged in response. "Yes, but the difference is that I can recover from damage at a much faster rate and able to take such damage as I have a fall back option with nine furry tails."

Omoi tried to find a come back to that, but he kept his mouth shut and grumbled in his mind. He didn't want to admit that Naruto did have that kind of advantage.

Kirabi simply shook his head, before taking a firmer stance. "Still, you were rather reckless. You allowed him to hit you with that one assault. If he had been any more experienced he could have wiped you out with it."

"Meh, I now know that. However at the time I didn't know his abilities so it was worth the risk. If I have to face another Hyuuga in the future, I will be ready for it and not take such unnecessary damage. Isn't that what these test are for?" Naruto finished with a question, which he knew would silence his sensei as it was the truth.

Yugito, on the other hand was a different story as she simply glowered at him. "That doesn't matter, Naruto. If you have a chance to avoid it all together and you opted not to which could have been a fatal mistake."

While he felt a little more comfortable with her being angry at him, he was still wondering what was with the sudden care as she hadn't been like that since he passed the gennin exam and became a ninja of the Cloud. It also made him feel out of place as he could tell there was worry laced in her words.

Not going to answer her, Naruto simply turned away as the final two that had not been called by the screen walked to the arena. "Alright, this is the final fight of the preliminaries! Sabaku Kankuro versus Ten Ryuu, begin!"

No faster then the fight began, Ryuu pulled the large sword off his back. He wore nothing but a pair of blue pants and a white shirt, looking like he was nothing more then a common street thug however from the stance he took it was obvious he had been trained.

Kankuro simply smirked as he yawned as he pocketed his hands. "What a drag. I'm stuck in the final fight and against a wannabee swordsman."

Ryuu didn't like the comment at all. However, he channeled his rage to his blade and with one fell swoop, he was behind Kankuro. The next moment Kankuro suddenly exploded, showering wooden shards over the arena as the real Kankuro jumped out of the bundle from behind, panting and slightly singed from the explosion. "What the hell was that?"

Smirking at Kankuro's response, Ryuu simply pointed the blade towards him. The air around it seemed to be wavering and the heat that began to build up gave everyone a clue to what happened, especially Kankuro. "I'm glad you noticed. This blade was specially crafted for me by the same man that created the blades for the seven swordsman as he saw something in me. All I'll tell you, it is a _blast _to use."

Having his main puppet destroyed just from one swing due to his overconfidence, Kankuro was put between a rock and a hard space. If he surrendered Gaara would beat him till an inch of his life. But if he stayed to fight he could end up become like crow and fragments all across the arena.

"Um, I would like to surrender. My other puppets are under maintenance at the moment and not combat worthy." Kankuro stated slowly, trying to get across to his brother in the stands a message for future reference. He just hope he understood it and didn't beat him an inch to his life once they got back to the hotel.

Ryuu simply grinned at his victory as it was given to him before he sheathed his blade before the Hokage flickered into the arena. "Would everyone that won their preliminary match, please make your way down. I want to explain the final round to all of you."

Moments later, everyone that had won in the prelims, besides Sasuke as he hadn't returned when Kakashi did, the Hokage paused for a moment before starting. "Now, after seeing all of you fight I am quite sure all of you have figured out each other abilities therefore there is no element of surprise. So, the next round will begin one month from now."

"Now there are other reasons for this, mainly to allow the necessary time for our potential clients to get here, the main one for all of use is to give you time to train and learn new techniques to prepare for your potential opponents and to surprise them. Now Anko here will be walking by with a box. Inside the box there are sixteen numbers. Only one shall remain as that person will get the first part of the tournament off." The Hokage explained.

Anko walked by, everyone pulling a number out of the box until she had reached the last number and pulling out one herself for Sasuke. "Sasuke will be number seven."

Writing it down, Gekkou began to get the numbers from everyone until all the matches except one had been settled.

Scanning over the match list, Naruto quickly found his opponent. Oh, that would not be a fun opening match. The only move Ryuu had shown was his blade could make things blow up! The only good thing was he was in the fifth, well technically forth match up.

In the first match was Omoi and he was going up again Shino, whose abilities were not on display today due to the Nara's cowardice. In the next round, if he didn't screw up against Shino, he would go up against Lee as there was no way the bowl cut kid was going to not knock around Dosu for what he did to his team mate.

Looking further down on the bracket, he found Karui and she was going up against Gaara sister in the first round. A good match as she seemed to be a wind mistress and around her age, however what startled him was who she would face in the next round. It would be Gaara as he didn't kid himself, that Rain gennin would get murdered by him.

The only good thing was that she would get to display her skills in the first round. Because if she even tried to fight Gaara... He shivered at the thought. From what he saw against his fight with Konohamaru, Gaara was a beast in battle.

Overall, after that he noted the matches were pretty intriguing. Kuro would obviously wipe the floor with the Yamanaka girl as she had gotten very lucky in her fight in the first place. Sasuke got a first round bye, somehow, and would face the winner of that fight while Hinata would face off against the bowling ball kid and he would face the winner of that, if Ryuu didn't blow off an arm and make him use Kyuubi.

Seeing each of the fights and nodding to himself, the Hokage turned back to the group of gennin before making one last speech. "Train hard now as he know who your first opponent is. Remember, you are not only being judge on whether or not you are chunin material but you are representing you village. You are dismissed."

As everyone began to disperse, most heading to their sensei, Naruto stopped Karui and pulled her aside just before she reached Kirabi and Yugito. "You are not to fight Gaara if you get by the wind mistress."

While he had told this to her earlier, Karui is getting pissed by. He was telling her not to go out and show what she could do so she could have a chance to make it and become chunin. There was no way in hell she was going to allow that. "Now listen here..."

"No Karui, he is right." Yugito suddenly cut in knowing exactly why Naruto had pulled her aside as did Kirabi. "Even though I will be training you over this next month, both Kirabi and I forbid you to fight him. You may fight his sister, but he is far too dangerous."

Dropping her jaw, not believing that both her sensei and the Head Ninja of their village was commanding her not to fight him. How in the world was she suppose to show her skills off to advance in rank? "What, but why can't I?"

"Because he is the demon vessel for the one tailed beast, Ichibi better known as Shukaku of the Sand." Naruto answered, his suspicions confirmed seeing the way he fought as it was exactly the same as the record held of the past one tail vessels.

Nodding in agreement, Kirabi finally added what he had to say. "I normally wouldn't tell you to quit after the first round, however there is no chance that you can avoid him... The only two people that I can see that have a chance to defeat him... Are unfortunately facing each other in the first round."

Groaning, knowing Kirabi was talking about him and obviously Ryuu as that was his opponent, Naruto knew he had to train hard over this next month. Not only was he going to have to be strong enough to beat Ryuu, but he had to beat another before he got a chance to fight Gaara, who was going to be rested going in to his fight.

"Perfect, just perfect. Let me guess sensei, you'll be training Omoi." Naruto spoke flatly, already knowing that to be true as Kirabi said he would if they made it to this point.

A nod was his only answer before he was poked in his shoulder. Turning to see who poked him, he saw Kuro smiling softly. "I'll be talking to you later, Sir Naruto. I'll come and get you at your hotel when Lady Mizukage arrives. Oh, and good luck against Ryuu... You're going to need it."

Slumping his head further, Naruto simply nodded as she walked off, joining Ryuu and the jounin looking after them as they headed to the medic wing to check up on their other team mate. "Dammit... This is going to be one hell of a month."

"Well," Kirabi started as he patted his student on the back, trying to comfort him as he had the toughest road of all the contenders, "At least you have your fall back plan with nine furry tails."

"...And I'll see if I can make some arrangements for a trainer." He added on, seeing the dark look Naruto gave him that promised swift death... Or castration. He wasn't sure which and he didn't want to figure that out.

Feeling a little better, Naruto stood up straight before rubbing his temples before Omoi finally made his way over to him. "Damn, I failed to get a date with the Kuro girl... Naruto, why do all the girls I want flock to you?"

Rolling his eyes, Naruto just glared at Omoi before shaking his head. "She's not... She is a servant to the house of Uzumaki. And I am the last of the Uzumaki now, meaning I am her lord to serve."

Seeing the way Naruto began to distance himself after he had spoke, no one walked after him as they knew he needed to be alone. Even though he didn't know the old guy that much, he was still his grand father.

* * *

**A/N**: Alright, here is the third update of this story. I should be updating this weekly as I've just finished chapter eleven and should have a chapter done once a week so I will stay in front of it

If you have any questions or anything that needs to be answer or just want to say something about the story overall, drop a review and I'll get back to you.

Peace Out.


	4. Chapter 4

I Do Not Own Naruto

"So wait, I still don't get it." Karui stated as she was confused to how Naruto was a lord. It was the first day since the preliminaries and they were suppose to be training, but both Kirabi and Yugito suggested they took the first day off as a reward.

Sighing as he rubbed his temples, Naruto thought about not saying a thing as he really didn't want to go over this. But no, both Karui and Omoi couldn't let the subject go so they continued talking about it as they were getting nothing from Kirabi or Yugito.

Tired, Naruto finally snapped an answered her question. "It is simple... my grandfather was the lord of the Whirlpool until his passing. It is now a Mist territory so therefore that makes me a minor noble in their eyes and the rightful heir to the land. They are just trying to make sure the Cloud can't claim their territory!"

Blinking for a moment, Karui shook her head. "That's not what I meant. I was asking how come they kept the lords from before instead of inserting their own to make sure there would be no revolts."

Seeing Naruto was ready to pop and unload on Karui, Yugito came to her rescue as she answered for him. "Around twenty years ago, the Mist gave the Whirlpool an ultimatum when they came to take their land. Either they would simply allow them to become part of the Mist and they would keep mostly all of their positions of power or face the power of one of the five strongest nations. It was a simple choice in the end as they didn't have much military might."

"So, to keep from taking loses the Uzumaki simply took demotions of power and allowed the Whirlpool to become part of the Mist? Man, sounds like they were cowards... Smart cowards." Omoi wisely added the last part to the end as Naruto had almost unsheathed his sword and was ready to take his head for insulting his family.

Naruto of course still wanted to take his head, but it wouldn't look too good on a trophy stand. He would have just to settle for giving him a beat down sometime later. "No, they simply spared our people a road of hardship that would have resulted in the same end result. They... made it easier to transition into becoming their territory."

"Afterwards, most of the family either left for different villages or tried to lead an uprising only to be silenced. My mother was one of the few that made it to their actually destinations, so it wasn't hard to track me down. And even if they were to find others of the Uzumaki, I am recognized as part of the head family and I am the son of the Forth Hokage so therefore I would still hold the highest rank." Naruto finished, tired of talking about his family tree.

Still not entirely sure on how everything worked, Karui and Omoi left it at that when they arrived at the Hokage tower. That was when Karui started the questioning again. "So, why are we here again? I thought the Hokage said he wanted to see Naruto."

"Well, he does. However, he asked for all of us as he has some plans, I'm sure. But mostly, we are all coming along to act as Naruto's guard to make sure he doesn't coax him into staying here." Kirabi responded before he slightly bowed to the guard before they were allowed in.

Everyone was silent as they were led to the office, where the Hokage's secretary seemed to be waiting for them. "Ah, if you will just give him a moment. He will be right with you after he is done with his meeting."

"That won't be necessary, I am quite finished, Azure. He left in his usual fashion." The Hokage stated as he came out of his office to greet the Cloud shinobi. While it wasn't his first run in with either Kirabi or Yugito, this was the first time he would actually get to be with Naruto since he was only a new born baby.

Ushering them into his office and having them take a seat, Sarutobi found himself behind his desk like normal before looking over to the ninja. Obviously he knew they were there mostly because there was some distrust, but he was fine with that. Naruto, after all, was a Cloud shinobi.

"Well, I guess you probably have a good idea of why I called you here." Seeing Naruto nod as did both Kirabi and Yugito, everything was made easier for Sarutobi as he continued. "Obviously and first on my agenda is to thank you for your actions yesterday. While I was more then ready to act, you clearly beat me to the punch and saved my grandson. I know thank you isn't enough, but there are other reasons I called you here today."

Nodding, wanting to get this over as fast as possible as he didn't like meetings too much, Naruto simply waited for Sarutobi to continue.

Chuckling as he did not liking meetings all that much either, Sarutobi lit the pipe on his desk before taking a puff. "Secondly, as you are aware of, your father was the Fourth Hokage. As such, there are some of his possessions that he left behind that are obviously entitled to you."

"First of which is why I truly brought you here." He continued before pulling out five separate scrolls, each varying in size. "Each of these are jutsu scrolls left by your father's sensei. Obviously, he being a Konoha shinobi does not have power to give you such secrets without it being treasons, however as I'm Hokage I can give you each of these without repercussions."

"Each one are jutsu Minato personally created, two of which he is most famous for. ... I however, am having second thoughts on this last scroll and as such, I have to make sure it will not be used against this village. So, if I cannot get any warrantee as such, I will destroy it." Sarutobi stated before he picked up the final one.

Both Kirabi and Yugito's face fell, knowing exactly what the jutsu was. While destroying it really wouldn't hurt them all that much, the fact that he could give it to their village was something they weren't expecting. And the fact that only Naruto could learn it... Well, that just disturbed them on a whole new level.

Naruto simply shook his head. "I've already stated I will help this village as I can. If you wish for me not to use the Flying Thunder God, be that as you wish. It matters not to me as it is not a jutsu I would like to learn. As such, I would not like that scroll to begin with."

Everyone's jaw had dropped at this. Forget the anatomy of a human's mouth, that wasn't working anymore as everyone's jaw literally reached the floor. He had just refused to take the Flying Thunder God, one of if not the greatest technique ever created. There was no question in their minds he had lost his sanity.

"Why?" Was literally asked by everyone there simultaneously.

Shrugging, Naruto crossed his arms over his chest. "While it is a powerful technique and I would admit it would be a great jutsu to have, it is highly probable I would become to reliant on it and therefore turning it into a weakness if someone knows the inner workings. Not only that, but there are many problems that would result in me knowing such a jutsu."

"I would constantly being under attack from other ninjas, wanting to erase the knowledge of such a powerful move or wanting to have it for their own. It would literally turn me into a target that could cause wars and jeopardize my home along with many other risks. The only benefits of having it are to protect those close to me and to change the tides of a battle in the matter of seconds." Naruto finished explaining the reason for his madness.

It really didn't convince any of them as they were still till looking at him as if he was absolutely insane.

Sighing at this and slumping in his chair, he decided just to accept the damn thing to make things easier on him. "Fine, if I promise to keep this jutsu in good hands would you give to me and I might try to learn it after said person deems I'm worthy of such a power?"

Blinking for a few moments, Naruto had said he wouldn't use it against Konoha so giving it to him wouldn't be that much of a problem. Honestly, no one else could use the jutsu, so it was a waste just to let it stay. Still, he had to know who would look after. "And who would keep the jutsu safe until that time."

"Lord Raikage, obviously. He knows the jutsu about as well as mostly everyone that was close to my father and knows the benefits and risks to it better then many others." Naruto responded trying to put the Third Hokage at ease.

Slowly nodding, as that was true seeing Minato and E were close friends, the Hokage simply pushed the other fours scrolls towards Naruto. "Then I will hand it to him when he arrives and we'll consider a peace offering for the new treaty we are working on."

Simply pocketing the four scrolls, hoping they would be of some help in the immediate future in his fight against Ryuu, Naruto kept his gaze onto the Third before speaking once more. "Is that all you called me in for? If so, I would like to leave. I do have a match in the finals to prepare for."

"Ah, that brings me to the final reason. Kirabi has asked me if there was any way I could help in your training. Normally, that would be impossible as helping a foreign ninja learn skills from our village is forbidden." Naruto simply rolled his eyes, already knowing that, and wondering what the old man was thinking about.

However, the Third simply smirked at him before pulling out a small bracelet that looked like a miniature head band. "However, seeing your situation with the Mist, I thought to do the same. As long as you are in the land of fire and you wear this, you are considered a Konoha ninja."

Raising his eyebrow at this, Naruto looked at the bracelet for a moment before turning back to Kirabi and Yugito, who both just shrugged as it was his decision to make. Turning his gaze back to the Third, Naruto thought for a moment before asking a question that was bothering him. "And why would you do such? I have no real ties here as I do with the Mist, so it seems like you are doing nothing more then trying to coax me back to the village I was born in."

"To an extent, I am." The Hokage admitted as he wasn't below such a tactic even if he knew it would work. "However, it is more due to what you spoke of yesterday. You saved our village, twice, from possible destruction. Now, the second time may be more a ruse but that still needs to be kept secret otherwise war might break out because of it."

"And showing that you still care for this village despite not being a ninja here is enough for you to be accepted into our ranks. It would also be a boost of morale for most the ninja that the Yondaime's Legacy was considered part of the village." Sarutobi finally added on, seeing the look Naruto was giving him wanting to know the full truth.

Satisfied by what he had said and seeing the benefits to both for him and the Leaf, Naruto took the bracelet before sliding it onto his left wrist were a similar band with the mark of the Mist was worn. Standing, Naruto bowed. "Thank you lord Hokage, but I must take my leave now. I have a difficult first round match and want to get to training."

Nodding as the entire team stood up and did the same, the Hokage simply smiled before letting them walk out of his office. Now he just had to get word to Jiraiya. After all, those techniques he gave him were not easily understood and he was one of the few people that knew who to use a few of them.

* * *

"One-thousand one. One-thousand two. One-thousand three." Naruto voice strained as he pushed himself off the surface, each push getting harder.

While doing push-ups was not considered to be a hard exercise and one to give that kind of strain to a ninja, the way Naruto was doing it had many people look at him in awe as they walked by, simply because he wasn't doing them in a normal way. In fact, it was so bizarre that even the ninja that walk by had to stop and do a double take.

Doing one handed push ups while alternating each hand on every push wasn't very easy. Also, it could have been that was perpendicular to the surface. But it was probably because he was doing them on the side of a building, which happened to be his hotel. So it wasn't surprising he had very many onlookers watching in amazement as he seemingly easily did the push ups while not losing any height when he switched his hands after each lift.

This is what Jiraiya found when he had arrived at the hotel to pick up the said boy to train him for the month, now that he had special permission to do so. Even he had to stop for a moment take a gander at the blonde, trying to figure out how he pulled that off so fluidly.

However, his attention was quickly turned away from that when he noticed the amount of young girls wooing over him. Jiraiya could only perversely chuckle to himself as he imagined the blonde trying to take advantage of the situation he created. It was a best seller idea, he was sure of it!

Returning back to the world, Jiraiya wiped the drool from his chin before flickering to just above the boy as he did his push ups. "Hey, seems like you got quite the crowd watching you. What happened to keeping training to a secret?"

Naruto wanted to ignore the man and continue his drill however, the man's aura was overwhelming. It felt even greater then what he felt from all of the Kages he had ran into. Something told him that he needed to listen to this guy as this power was unbelievable. "Because trees and cliffs don't have smooth surfaces, it makes it nearly impossible for such a drill as this one as sticking to surface becomes nigh impossible between alternation."

Already knowing this, having made Minato do the same drill many times during their training, Jiraiya didn't pay much attention before he pulled a scroll out of Naruto's coat faster then the blonde could even react. "So have you even read these yet? They are quite useful, you know."

Naruto's first reaction was to try and swipe the scroll back but he quickly reasoned with himself. If he knew they were there and what was in them, there was only one legitimate reason for that. "You were my father's sensei."

"Yes, yes I was. And now thanks to the old man's generosity, you are considered a shinobi of the leaf. So I am capable of teaching you some things, if you like." Jiraiya responded, impressed that the boy hadn't lost an ounce of concentration as he continued his strange push ups without falter.

Thinking for a moment, Naruto figured this was what the Hokage was getting at when he spoke about helping his training and the reason he was given the scrolls. With one last push off, he did a back flip in mid air before landing on the ledge of hotel, sticking to it was the tip of his toes. "If you can keep up."

Jiraiya couldn't help but smirk. Kirabi was right when he met with him the night before. While he did have a cold demeanor, it was easy to see there were still flames of the passion he possessed on full display.

Simply beckoning to follow him, Jiraiya led the way and Naruto quickly followed making many of the onlookers groan before going back to their regular lives.

* * *

Jiraiya pinched his nose as he sighed in annoyance. He barely had enough time for him to peep with the brat around. He learned fast, much faster then he anticipated.

He had purposely started out with the hardest move to learn of the four scrolls, the Rasengan. The problem was now they were into the six day in training and he was already on the final freaking step! How in the world was that possible, he wasn't too sure as it took him three months to learn and two years for Minato to create.

Whatever it was the Raikage trained him in, it worked. This boy was a sponge and soaked everything in, not letting a single thing escape his eyes.

The first step had only taken a day for him to master, a little less actually. After he popped the water balloon he moved onto the rubber ball. That had taken three days, but he still managed to pop it without any help. Now he was finally learning how to control it, containing the burst of chakra within the balloon.

This step had been a little harder as he kept popping it, but the boy was making outstanding process. In fact, he was making such quick progress he had a hard time choosing if he should watch the girls playing a game of water volleyball or watch him. And he loved watching girls playing water volleyball!

"I'm finished." Jiraiya heard making him turn his head around and looked at Naruto to see a perfectly round sphere of chakra that showed no sign of being out of control. His jaw simply dropped. The boy was a goddamn super genius.

It didn't take him very long to recover as he gazed at the sphere of chakra. "I see, well let's see if you did it right. See if you can take out that wooden dummy there."

Naruto simply shrugged before doing as he was asked. He slammed the orb into the dummy and after a few moments of creaking and groaning of wood, the dummy shattered at the point of contact.

Keeping his jaw from dropping, Jiraiya could only grumble. If he had learned the Rasengan in less then a week, he was going to cruise through the others. Not wanting to get straight into them, he thought what else he could do to kill some time and still train the boy. "How is your situation on using the fox's chakra?"

Raising his head at Jiraiya's question, Naruto decided to answer honestly as he probably had some thoughts on his relationship with the fox. "I am forbidden to use anything past six tails and that is forbidden unless everyone's life around me is in danger. However, I can use all nine tails if I must but my control is severely limited in that state."

Jiraiya's heart stopped. Naruto could use all nine tails without the key to his seal? No wonder why he was forbidden to us it, that kind of power was outrage for a thirteen year old kid to have controlled! "You can use all nine tails? How is that possible?"

Shrugging his shoulders, the blonde answered to elevate his teacher's confusion. "The fox and I have a symbiotic relation with one another, very much like Yugito and Nibi's relationship. It took six years of training since I was young child, but the fox now accepts his situation and we now finally are able to use our power to its fullest."

Seeing the look of shock on Jiraiya's face, Naruto couldn't help but think about the arduous task it was to control Kyuubi's chakra.

(Flashback)

_It was freezing cold. Every ounce of his body felt like it had turned into blocks of ice. His breath was labored and each one was made even more painful as the artic air flooded his lungs, stinging as it traveled through his respiratory system._

_His entire body was battered and bloodied and the snow that covered his body was causing it to burn. It was even worse with the snow that made it into his wounds as they were become infected and turning a blackish-blue, probably the signs of gangrene._

_He could hear those that were hunting him closing in. They had been chasing him for days, attacking him just as he when he was trying to forage for food or find a shelter to rest. He hadn't gotten an ounce of sleep or food because of them and his body grew weak._

_The edges of his vision had been blackening for the last few hours, slowly overtaking his vision and making it hard to see period. His other senses had dulled as well, his heard had practically disappeared and all he felt was the freezing cold behind him._

_But he knew they were surrounding him. He was good as dead as whatever these people wanted they would get it from him. Falling to his knees, he began to succumb to all his wounds as he just wanted to give up. It would be so much easier to just give up._

_As he closed his eyes, he suddenly found himself very warmed. Snapping his eyes open, he saw nothing but concrete walls with a seemingly impregnable steel cage that was made to keep something big from getting out._

_Knowing this place very well, he began to get angry. His blood began to boil as he repeatedly began to punch the gate cursing at the top of his lungs. "You no good fox! It is your fault that this is happening!"_

_Two deep crimson eyes snapped open and glared at the boy. The fox growled at the boy's presence and slashed his claws to the gate. However, the boy didn't move an inch as the serrated claws passed by him as he continued punching the gate as his fists began to bleed. "You goddamn fucker! This is all your fault! All it would have taken was you to step in once!"_

_"__**Do not speak to me that way boy! I am thousands of times greater the you!**__" The fox roared as he attempted to turn his claw just enough to cut into the boy._

_He didn't move an inch as the claw was literally inches from his face. He felt no fear of death. Their death was already assured. "Go ahead! We are already fucking dead! Ending my life quicker means nothing any more foolish demon! It was your pride that caused this, so you might as well end this!"_

_Stopping at the boy's words, the fox growled before its claw sunk back into the cage. His eyes glowered at the young boy in front of him. But the hatred in his eyes seemed to diminish. He could feel it now. Death was moments away from taking him... Then it would come after him._

_No matter what he did, he would die if this human before him died. If his life was what it took to keep him alive, then so be it. Calming his rage, the fox glared him into the eyes before chakra began flooding through the bars and wrapping around the young child._

_"__**I will not die. Not now, not ever! If it means that you have to be the vessel of my power, so be it. We will not die then! The strong live to crush the weak, so crush them as my vessel will not be weak!**__" The fox roared before every ounce of its power filled his body with power._

_And then, the nine tails power was reborn in a blaze of crimson chakra._

(Flashback End)

Ever since that day, the fox had calmed considerably and seemingly accepted his fate. However, in order to use his power to the fullest Naruto had to adopt his philosophy so they could stay synchronized. As such, he truly did believe the strong were around to crush those who were weaker. He just added in that the strong were to protect those that were weak if they were incapable of doing so.

Regaining his composure, Jiraiya was at a lose to do now. The blonde needed no help with Kyuubi if he could indeed use all nine tails and not lose control which made the key at this point almost useless. So all he really have was the other jutsu or teaching him how to summon.

Going to go for the later option, he was about to speak before his attention was caught by an intruder. He quickly identified them as a Mist shinobi due to the head band and he was about to meet them when the said person finally got frustrated as they couldn't figure out where they were. "Sir Naruto! Where are you?"

Watching Jiraiya face fault, Naruto wondered why he was do such a thing before focusing where the voice came from. He easily spotted her only to raise his eyebrow as she happened to be hanging upside down, caught in a snare trap. However, what caught his attention was she was trying to keep her dress from creeping up past her hips.

Putting those thoughts aside, he walked to her and out of pity he cut her down and gingerly caught her. "What are you doing here, Kuro? I happen to be in the middle of training as you can see."

Blushing at the contact, she quickly stood on her own two legs and brushed off the dirt. "I know but I came to tell you Lady Mizukage has arrived and has requested and audience with you. I came to take you to her, my lord."

Having thought as much, Naruto nodded before he turned to yell at his perverted teacher only to see he was sitting in the tree just above them. Somewhat surprised, he quickly recovered. "You heard then, so I'll be on my way."

"Go ahead brat. This gives me time for tomorrow." Jiraiya grumbled but was slightly grateful as he didn't want to start on the next technique just yet. While the Rasengan was the most complicated, and possibly the strongest of the four, he didn't want to get started on them yet. In fact now that he remembered there was one technique Kushina wanted to be passed down to him.

Nodding, Naruto went to follow Koru before she was suddenly lifted into the air once more, curiosity of yet another snare trap. "God dammit! Who the hell booby traps their own training grounds?"

Naruto didn't say a word. He had been the one to lay the traps down in the first place. ...He liked setting traps.

* * *

Arriving at a small restaurant known as Ichiraku's Ramen Stand, Naruto entered to see two guards sitting besides Mei, who was eating a small bowl of what he suspected to be a diet special of calamari as that seemed to be her favorite food. The fact that they put that in ramen seemed a little disgusting, but he would tolerate it for now.

"Lady Terumi, I have brought him like you requested." Kuro stated as she bowed to give respect to her idol, who was also the leader of her village.

Turning from her food, she smiled softly before nodding to Kuro. "Thank you, you may get back to your training. I will be there shortly after I am finished here."

Kuro tried to keep her excitement from showing and did so very well as she simply bowed again before uttering a thanks and leaving the restaurant. As she did, Mei turned her attention to Naruto while keeping her smile. "It is nice to see you again, Uzumaki."

"This brat is Uzumaki? I thought he would be older." The guard to her right stated, surprised that the new lord of the Whirlpool was so young. "Well, let's get this over with. You have other arrangements that you are scheduled for."

Mei twitched at his comment. She mostly blocked out what he had said when she heard 'engagements' followed by 'scheduled for'. However, her anger didn't show on her face as she turned to her guard with her usual smile even though she was radiating a killing aura. "Ao, speak again and I will rip off your testicles and feed them to you in a soup."

Ao shrunk away from the Mizukage. He couldn't understand why she always seemed to become so murderous by what he said. He could only guess she misheard him, but he didn't dare reiterate what he said as it could be taken even worse and she might then kill him... Or worse.

Pleased by her guard's obedience, Mei turned back to Naruto and her smiled brightened. "Please come and join us. This shouldn't take long."

Nodding and putting on his political face, not that there was much change for his cold gaze, Naruto took the seat that Ao gave up, probably because he decided he need some space from her. "So what is that about? I have read the scroll you have sent me yet I did not understand it outside of my grandfather's death."

Ordering another bowl of ramen, one for herself and more of a plain one for her guest, Mei turned to Naruto before taking off her Kage hat and lying onto the table. "I figured as there was too much to be explained through just writing, which is part of the reason I have arrived for the exams early."

"With your grandfather's death, there was a vacuum created for those trying to usurp and become the lord of the Whirlpool, all of them in opposition of mine. With your existence known, they can't rise to power unless you are either eliminated or appoint someone to rule for you." Mei explained as she waited for yet another bowl of calamari ramen.

"The problem is, you have to appoint someone born in the land and there is hardly anyone that can be trusted. The reason for that being is because Kuro's clan was murdered. ...She doesn't know yet and after I leave here I am to inform her of what happen." Mei told truthfully with a small amount of regret and her smile for once disappearing from her face.

Frowning as he knew the Wolf clan was helping his grandfather in his elder days rule over the land, Naruto knew the lost of that clan would hurt as they were very loyal. "So why not keep them in line with a demonstration of strength and assassinations of key conspirators?"

"While that would be easy, it is very costly as it could start a new civil war and we cannot deal with another at the moment. I'm having internal problems and I'm unsure of who to trust outside of a select few... However, all of this can be avoided if the true heir would return, even if only for a while. Showing there is still an Uzumaki would quail a lot of these problems." Mei explained as the young waitress handed their bowls to them.

Taking a bite of the ramen and deeming it acceptable, Naruto took a few more bites as he thought before giving an answer. "As of now, I'm not in much position of power so I can't take leave when I want to. You must speak with Lord Raikage about this and if he agrees, I will help as I can."

"I suspected at much, but I doubt he will listen to my pleas. That is why I came to you first as I know he will listen to yours. If you can convince him, I would be very much indebted to you." Mei responded as she was about to turn her attention to her bowl.

Continuing to eat his bowl, Naruto nodded as he finished the noodles leaving only the broth. "I will see what I can do. However, there is one thing I would like to request for payment."

"You name it." Mei replied, very much willing to give him what he wanted to settle the problem that was occurring in the Whirlpool. It was giving her a headache as she had many problems to deal with outside of that.

Naruto simply stood up before paying for his bowl before glancing outside as he knew Kuro hadn't gotten very far. "Cancel the engagement between Kuro and myself. Lord E has already said he would if I didn't feel like getting involved, so it will be simple... She deserves far better than me."

Before Mei could respond, Naruto disappeared in a swirl of static leaving her alone with her guards. Sighing as she looked over towards Kuro, she shook her head sadly before turning to her bowl of calamari. "I don't know about that... It could crush her seeing how much she looks up to you."

* * *

It was only a day before the finals would begin and finally the Raikage had arrived with Darui and Shi guarding him as they always did. They had brought Samui as she wanted to she her former team compete in the final test.

Taking up the room beside theirs for the night, E had called in the three in order to speak with them which was why all three were now before him. "I am glad to see all of you have made to this point, so I am congratulating you for a job well done. However, it isn't finish and I would love nothing more then to see you three dominate this tournament."

"However, Karui I heard of your situation and I agree with my brother and Yugito's advice. You are to forfeit the second match as the Suna vessel is too much of a threat to handle. Same goes for you as well Omoi if you are to meet him in the finals. Naruto, you are permitted to use six tails if the situation becomes critical" E stated, making sure they had his orders clear.

Omoi simply nodded as he was quite sure he didn't want to deal with the red head in the first place. He looked a little too strong for him. Naruto was somewhat surprised that he would actually able to use his six tail form if he needed to. Karui looked disappointed at that as she believed she had become much stronger over the month, but she would obey his order.

Seeing this disappointment, E smiled at her before speaking to put her at ease. "However, Karui, if you do well in your fight against your opponent I will highly consider making you chunin. The same goes for both of you as well. Do well, and your chances of advancement will grow exponentially."

After seeing all three bow E turned his gaze to Naruto before pondering the request he had sent him. "As for you request Naruto, I will allow it on only one condition. You must win this tournament and give us all of us a show. If you do that, I will send you, Omoi, Karui and Samui to the Mist to deal with the problems in the Whirlpool."

Feeling confident that he gave them sufficient incentives to do well, the Raikage beckoned them to leave. Once they had, Kirabi was the first to speak, not liking he was not mentioned in his team's mission. "What is this about the Mist and Whirlpool?"

"It is nothing to worry about, brother. If they do well here it is nothing they cannot handle. Samui will simply be there to take care of anything that gets out of hand." E responded before getting up and stretching. "Now, I do believe I haven't been here in a while. I hope that restaurant is still around. They served superb sushi, better then anything I've eaten before."

Still not exactly thrilled that his team would be going off without him, Kirabi could only sigh. If his brother believed they were ready, there was nothing he could do. But, there was a few things he needed to talk about. "It is, but there are some things you need to now that Yugi and have discovered."

E nodded as he was listening intently. He had a feeling something was about to go down, so anything could be useful.

* * *

**A/N**: Well, that was the fourth chapter. Just to inform you, I do know the Whirlpool is now the Wave but I wanted it to still be around for this story so I simply changed its location so it was still in existence, just a part of the Mist.

The thing about the Third handing the Flying Thunder God is simply a plot point as I'm unsure if I'm going to allow Naruto to learn it or not. I'm simply giving myself the option of doing so. The others jutsus that were given I will keep quiet for now about as one will show up next chapter.

Anyways, I hope the rest kind of answered itself or you understand it and if not, drop a review and I'll try my best to explain it. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and the next one will be out sometime next week.

Peace Out.

* * *


	5. Chapter 5

I Do Not Own Naruto

* * *

It was nearing time for the final portion of the chunin exams and the electricity was in the air. People were ecstatic to watch so many up-coming gennin battle one another for a chance to become chunin. Many high esteemed lords and the best merchants had come searching for a profit and possible business.

Villagers and ninja from all the competing villages were in the stands, waiting to see gennin in their village compete. Bets were being placed on who would wind single matches and even who would win the tournament. The Kages from each of the participating villages, excluding the rain and sound were present and all waiting eagerly for the matches to start.

Of course none of this matter to those that were actually competing. Nothing so trivial as earning a few bucks were on their mind. Each and every one of them had one goal and that was to win this tournament to increase there chances to becoming chunin. So it wasn't a surprise that everyone had arrived except one.

Sasuke had not shown up, nor did he really need to show up as he had a first round bye. But even he needed to be there as he could literally face anyone in the tournament. So it wasn't a surprise that he managed to show up time, even if his sensei would be late as he always was.

As soon as Sasuke shown up, a new proctor appeared before him. They all wondered what happened to Hayate, but they weren't given the time to ask questions as he spoke. "I am your new proctor, Genma. Before we begin, I shall refresh your memory on the rules."

After explaining them, the Hokage stood from his seat and walked to the balcony before taking a breath. "Greetings to all those that have come here for today's festivities! We will now cap them off with the finals of the chunin exam including gennin from four of the five great powers!"

"Each of you that have made it here today, remember all of your hardships that you faced to get here! Remember all of those that have helped you reach this point! And most importantly, remember what you represent and you shall be victorious! Every single one of you are the finest your village has to offer, but only one of you may walk out of here as the winner today! However, tomorrow many of you could be winners if the powers that be decided you are ready!"

"Let the seventeenth bi-annual chunin exams commence!" With his final cry, the crowd was thrown into a frenzy while the gennin below stayed calm while soaking in the cheers that were given to them.

Enjoying the scene as there was nothing like it, Genma turned to the fifteen gennin standing before him. "Alright, will all but Omoi and Aburame Shino please head up to the designated area so the first match can begin?"

Seeing where the stairs led, all except the two mentioned left to their personal box to watch the fight and wait till it was their time to fight. Each took a spot on their own, forming their own little cliques.

"Well this should surely be interesting." Kuro stated as she joined Naruto as Ryuu decided to stand be himself near the back, leaning against the wall.

"That it will be. Omoi always is on and this Shino seemed to be pretty good." Naruto commented as he looked down at the arena. He also wasn't a fool. He knew that Mei told him of his request, so it puzzled him why she didn't look badly at him.

Back down in the arena, Genma knew both Omoi and Shino were ready to battle from their posture alone. He could also feel the tenseness and knew they were fighting a few butterflies fighting before this many people. It was unique.

"Shino, are you ready?" Getting a small nod, he turned to Omoi and asked the same question. "Omoi, are you ready?" Once more it was the same response and with a smirk, he waved the start of the fight. "Then let the first match of the chunin exam finals begin!"

Not going to be criticized for over analyzing, Omoi quickly unsheathed his katana and went onto the attack, repelling a few kunai and shuriken thrown at him to slow him down. Metal clashed as Shino blocked his strike with a kunai, but something caught Omoi's attention that made him shutter.

There was bug crawling all over this guy's skin. Not only that, but it looked like they were coming out of specially designed pores. That made him shutter again. However, it didn't keep him from noticing they were forming a cloud around him.

Jumping back and using a few slashes, Omoi cut their numbers down before frowning. He knew this kid used bugs thanks to Kirabi telling him that much, but once again seeing it was completely different then it was hearing about. Still, he had a jutsu that would counter act them, but it wasn't the time to use it.

Sheathing his sword, Omoi took a few side steps as he kept his opponent before him, looking for an opening that he could exploit. He could tell that Shino was very defensive and was waiting for him to make a move, so he would have to take some risks if he was going to win this fight.

With only a single hand seal, Omoi rushed towards Shino and engaged him in close quarters, landing a few strikes to the chest. However, he was also took a hit that was surprisingly powerful. It staggered him for only a moment, but that moment he suddenly found Shino had burst into a colony of bugs that surrounded him.

But Omoi merely replaced himself with the standard log before using yet another single hand seal. This made Shino wonder what he was doing, but he kept his attention as this time he drew his katana and drew a kunai in response.

Getting each strike parried, Omoi started mixing in a few kicks and a punch along with his sword strikes to keep Shino off balance. However, the bug user stayed calm and block or avoided each strike while the number of bugs that collect onto Omoi's body began to significantly increase.

But what Shino noticed was that instead of chakra being drained, it seemed the bugs were getting confused and disoriented instead of following their orders. While he knew that his opponent would know lighting jutsu, he hadn't thought about it being used to disorient and confuse the messages the hive within him was sending.

Just as that thought caught his attention, the Omoi before dispersed into a burst of static, enveloping him. The amount of chaos inside of him was painful as his entire hive was alarmed and unsure what to do as their messages were being interrupted. Even his own neural network was being affected and made it hard to move as a ball of pure electricity strike him in the chest.

As pain seared through his body, Shino couldn't help but think how ingenious his opponents plan had been even if he had expected something to that nature. He hadn't expected to face a clone of electricity that main purpose was to disable him.

Watching Shino hit the ground, Omoi stood before him before sheathing his katana as he knew the bug user wasn't getting up. Genma seemed to know this to and he called the fight. "Shino is unable to continue, the winner by knockout is Omoi!"

As Omoi climbed the stairs triumphantly in victory and the medics took Shino to a place they could tend to his injures, Genma announced the next fight, however somewhat solemn. "Due to the unfortunate passing of Kinta Dosu, Rock Lee will move onto the next round. So will Ookami Kuro and Yamanaka Ino please make their way down? Your fight is next."

"Well, wish me luck Sir Naruto." Kuro smiled and waved as she walked down the stairs.

This left Naruto even more confused as she happened to be quite chipper. Did Mei tell her that he wanted the engagement to be nullified for helping her with the crisis in the Whirlpool? It would have been very improper not to do so as she was directly involved and he was sure she was only be respectful towards him as it was her obligation to make a good impression. And there was the fact that he was technically her lord but...

"Aren't you going to wish her good luck?" Karui asked, giving Naruto a dirty look as he seemingly did nothing after her statement. It slightly irked her as she would have wanted a response if she had said that to some guy.

Naruto shrugged as he watched Kuro and Ino enter the arena. "She already has my best wishes for her. She knows that, so I do not have to state what she already knows."

Frowning as he didn't get the point of it, Karui was about to hit him in frustration when Ryuu's voice reached their ears. "Of what importance is she of to you? From what I can see, you are only an enemy ninja."

Gazing back at him, Naruto pulled down his left sleeve to reveal the two bracelets on his wrist. "I am a member of both this village and yours. As to what importance, she is a member of the Wolf clan. As an Uzumaki, it is my duty to look after her well being while it is hers to defend mine."

Ryuu narrowed his eyes. He knew of the Uzumaki clan very well, mainly that it was the ruling family in the Whirlpool. But why was he a Cloud shinobi that was granted membership of their village and the Leaf?

Down in the arena, Genma went through his progressions and made sure both Ino and Kuro were ready to fight. Knowing they were, he gave the signal and announced the start.

Ino was the first to react as she threw a handful of shuriken towards Kuro. To her surprise the girl simply stood there and with almost no movement, all the missile weaponry passed by her without harm.

Kuro blinked for a moment before almost hanging her head. Outside of the one that almost hit her shoulder, they were all horribly thrown. This girl either didn't take her training seriously or she was trying to make her believe so. But seeing there were no wires attached to the shuriken, she doubted that much. "You have to be kidding me. That was pathetic."

Seething at Kuro's comment, Ino was berating own aim as it was very important for her to win this fight. Pulling out a kunai in her right, she pulled out a few shuriken in her left before charging her opponent.

Pulling her daggers from her belt, Kuro deflected Ino's strike to her jugular before dropping her other hand and deflecting the shuriken thrown to her midsection with a few flicks of her wrists. Following with a kick to Ino's stomach, she pushed her fellow blonde off of her and sighed. This wasn't even a fight. Her opponent when she graduated from the academy was more challenging.

This girl needed to be taught a lesson. So she planned on extending this fight to humiliate her and teach her such. Kunoichi could not be weak as there were men out there that would take advantage of their weakness. That in its own would be a far worse fate then what she was about to inflict onto the girl.

Getting up, Ino knew she had to tried and pull off her Mind Body Switch to win now. This girl obviously was trained to fight instead of reconnaissance like she had been. But she needed to trap her first and keep her from moving so she could succeed. Luck wouldn't let her succeed this time.

However before she knew it Ino was forced to use her kunai in defense as the two daggers clashed against it. Her eyes peered into Kuro's and sweat began to drip from her face as her opponent's pupil-less black eyes bored into hers. "You are weak, little girl. Kunoichi like you are what give the rest of us a bad name. ...I will fix that."

Not sure what to do, Ino tried to push her off so she could get back when pain ripped through her left arm forcing her to drop he kunai. Blood flowed freely as to deep gashes trailed down her arm from her wrist down and past her elbow.

Hearing her cry out, Kuro drove her foot into Ino's temple and knocked her to the ground. Sliding one of her daggers back, she walked over and with little amount of chakra pulsed in her now free arm she easily lifted the girl up by her collar. "For too long girls like you that have no drive to become better have caused us grief as we work our tails off to get where we are and we are simply ignored for the talented male shinobi! Is that fair?"

Cutting into her stomach, making sure it was shallow as she didn't want to kill her opponent; Kuro threw Ino back into the ground before slashing her back, traveling down the spine but being careful enough to keep any serious damage from being caused. "It isn't... Only now are the tides finally changing. There is now, for the first time in history, a female Kage! If it wasn't for girls like you, it could have happened decades ago! That is how long you have held us back!"

Wiping her dagger clean of the blood, Kuro sheathed it before she picked Ino up once more and looked into her eyes. "My dream has always been to change the opinion of kunoichi and slowly it is becoming true thanks to Lady Mizukage and the Raikage in-training. Both of them along with Tsunade of the Sannin are changing people's opinions of us, but it is still because of you inept, fan girl bitches that keep us from truly being recognized!"

Driving her first into Ino's gut, she watched the girl skid a few feet before turning his gaze to Genma. "Proctor, this fight is over. I've could have killed her at any time."

Looking over at Ino, Genma knew that was true but he hadn't stopped the fight, mainly because Kuro was teaching her a lesson. Plus, it was also very good for all those there seeking missions to realize that kunoichi were just as capable as the men. "Winner due to TKO is Ookami Kuro!"

The cheer rained down onto her was a surprise, seeing there was a lot of leaf ninja there, however she noted that it happened to be a lot of the said kunoichi that were cheering for her. Smiling softly at that, she walked over to Ino before kneeling down. "I hope you have seen the error of your ways now. Relying on luck isn't going to get you anywhere, so start training and maybe you to can change our world."

Watching from above, Mei smiled as she applauded her student. "My she has come a long way. I remember when she was in the academy and was afraid of causing anyone harm. Hopefully her speech will spur on my others here today that we kunoichi are just as good, if not better then the men."

"I sure hope so. I would love it if one day there were only other women Kages. It would be so much easier to deal with." Yugito responded as she shifted a little from her position besides the Raikage.

E, however, had his own thought to that matter. "Yes, but there also be more fights over trivial things. At least we guys fight for, more times then not, for a reason even if it isn't intelligent one."

"I must agree there. I rather have a war over a land dispute or for the murder of a comrade then one just because someone said something bad about me." The Kazekage added as he smiled underneath his mask.

Both Mei and Yugito glared at the two before Mei issued a death threat while smiling brighter then ever before. "If you two don't shut up, there will be a war started after I kill both you."

Neither said another word, knowing that she could kill them at any time. It wasn't good to piss off a woman that could control the water that you were bathing in and boil you in it.

In the contestant box, Kuro had returned with a smile. Naruto simply returned it as her message was true and hopefully it would get across to Ino and others that were watching.

"Good work, with any luck both of us will make the finals." Ryuu congratulated his team mate, both proud that she won and how she won. The speech was okay in his opinion, but the way she made her point was effective.

"Thank you." Kuro responded before smiling more as she caught Naruto's smile. Ryuu had also seen this and frowned. He really didn't like how she seemed to be paying more attention to him. He was an enemy ninja, one he was about to have to fight.

"As Uchiha Sasuke has a first round bye, will both Ten Ryuu and Uzumaki Naruto make their way to the arena? Your fight will start in five minutes." Genma announced, allowing people in the crowd that need a break to do so if they didn't want to miss the fight.

Soon as the fight was announced, Kuro became strangely quiet before she moved away from both Ryuu and Naruto. Both knew why of course. She couldn't give her encouragement to either due to Kuro being her partner and Naruto because he was her lord.

This made Ryuu frown deeply before he gazed darkly towards the Cloud ninja. Normally Kuro was the most upbeat of their group and always complemented her partners and attempted to spur them on. However, she had become icy cold and was ignoring him.

Becoming infuriated, he was going to make sure Naruto was going to pay. She was a damn fine kunoichi and one of the few he actually believed to be attractive. She was also one of the few that paid him any head despite being born from two lowly commoners and being orphaned at a young age. This royal prick was going to pay dearly.

Sensing his opponent's aura became darker, Naruto had a good idea that he was angered at him because of Kuro. While the situation was out of his hand, he wished the damn girl would support her team mate for this fight and make things easier for both of them. He really didn't need this guy to be mad at him. That could cost him a limb!

Waiting until Ryuu was in the arena, Naruto walked to Kuro before placing a hand her shoulder. "Even you I am your lord, he is your team mate and friend. He is in more need of you then I."

Kuro's eyes widened at her lord's words as he began to walk down taking calm and measured steps as he needed to conserve his energy. He noticed both Karui and Omoi cheering him on; he smiled and waved back at them before finally making it into the arena.

In the Kage's booth, Mei rubbed her chin for a moment as she looked at the two boys in the arena. "This should be very interesting. I dare say who wins this fight could very well win the tournament."

"Ah, but you must not count out my son Gaara or that Uchiha boy. They look to be very good to." The Kazekage responded as he knew Gaara's strengths very well. However, his interested in Sasuke was purely for his own amusement.

All of the Kages had caught this, but for now they would put it aside as E took his chance to speak. "Oh, I won't doubt either can win this, especially the Uchiha as he has the easiest path. Gaara being a demon vessel only adds onto his odds, but I agree with Lady Mizukage. These two are in a class of their own."

"I concur. My student Jiraiya has filled me in on Naruto's progress and I have little doubt that if he can get by this fight he can win it all. To Gaara and Sasuke, he is their worst nightmare. But Ryuu on the other hand, is a perfect match for his abilities." The Hokage added his two bits to the conversation.

"Well, let's hope they give us a good show then." The Kazekage responded with high hopes. However, he frowned underneath his mask. He had honestly thought Gaara or Sasuke had the most potential, not an orphan of the Mist or the Kyuubi vessel.

"Oh, I have an idea! Can we change the field for this fight?" Mei exuberantly spoke as her eyes sparkled, loving the idea that popped in her head.

Knowing what was going through the Mizukage's mind, the Hokage turned to the Raikage is it was his decision seeing Naruto was his shinobi. With a simple nod, all three stood up, the Hokage calling for one of his Anbu to help them.

On the arena floor, Genma was ready to start the fight when Mei along with E and Sarutobi appeared in the arena. "Sorry for the interruption Genma, however we will need five more minutes. We are going to change the landscape for this battle to make it more interesting."

Genma nearly tripped over his own feet. While it was perfectly legal to do so, especially seeing they were the Kages, it was extremely unorthodox to so. Then again, with a Cloud and Mist gennin facing off, it did make sense as the two villages had the highest concentration of people with water affinities.

"No problem. Clear the arena otherwise things might get a little hairy you two." Genma answered before telling the two gennin to move, knowing changing the landscape would be a little chaotic.

And indeed it was. Two wide fissures were opened up by E and Sarutobi with the help of earth jutsu before they were filled by mass amounts of water from Mei. A single Anbu that the Hokage called used a few hand seals before trees started to grow covering more of the arena. It wasn't enough to impede those from watching, it was enough to cause some mild discomfort for the sword wielders.

Watching as the arena was morphed, but Naruto and Ryuu gazed at each other before back to the arena before the latter spoke. "Well, isn't this just great?"

Grunting in agreement as he would have much preferred to keep the elements out of this fight, the Kages had decided otherwise. While he knew they wanted to make the match more interesting to watch, it also was just going to get in the way and make the fight more extravagant then either wanted.

Once they were finished, the Hokage spoke to the visitors watching, wondering why they had morphed the landscape. "Sorry for the wait, but we all agreed that this arena would maximize the viewing pleasure for everyone here. Now, may the fighters reenter the arena so the fight may start?"

With four poofs of smoke, the Kages returned to their box to watch the fight as Naruto and Ryuu walked to Genma before the former spoke. "Hidden Mist."

"Hell yes. Fuck the audience." Ryuu responded as he honestly didn't give a damn about them and wanted to prove the arena change would mean nothing.

Genma also caught this before sighing as he had a feeling neither cared to be watched while fighting. Of course, the stadium had taken measures in case of that. So unknown to them the mist wouldn't actually blind the audience due to a few hundred seals placed along the stands.

"Alright, are both of you ready?" Genma asked as he gagged both contestants and saw them nod. "Then let this fight between Ten Ryuu and Uzumaki Naruto begin!"

Almost as soon as he said that, both completely the single hand seal and muttered the same technique. "Kirigakure no jutsu."

Mist began to spread out through the arena in a hurry, blotting out the sight for a moment to those viewers before the seals kicked in any they were allowed to see through it.

In the box, Mei simply shook her head. "I wonder if they realized that we made sure that they couldn't hide from the audience."

"Nope." E responded with a grin as he kept his eyes down below knowing he was about to get a good fight.

Both Naruto and Ryuu scratched their noses almost immediately, having a weird gut feeling that while the mist would effect them had not blocked out everyone from watching the fight.

Putting that aside for Naruto, Naruto unsheathed his sword as he carefully enhanced his sight and hearing through chakra so he could have a good chance of spotting his opponent. He thought about enhancing his smell, but that really wouldn't matter as his sense of smell wasn't that strong.

Catching a glimpse of movement, Naruto instinctively lashed his sword out and cut through his target. It was indeed Ryuu, but it was simply a water clone as it burst into the said substance.

"Too slow!" Ryuu yelled as he appeared behind Naruto almost immediately with his blade ready to cleave Naruto in half.

The blades clanged as Naruto turned on a dime and rose his sword in defense. He struggled from keeping from being overpowered, but almost immediately Ryuu jumped back and hid in the mist. He knew why immediately as the red orb on his blade began to glow brightly. However, instead of worrying he began seeking his target.

Frowning as he didn't hear a bang, Ryuu could also see the orb of his opponent's sword glow bright red before dispersing and disappearing in the mist. Something was odd about that sword, but he couldn't quite tell just yet. Knowing he had a few other clones around, he decided to see if the sword could negate his explosion again.

Hearing foot steps coming towards him, Naruto brought his blade in their direction and cut down the clones as they burst into water before bringing his blade to his defense as Ryuu rushed out of the mist once more trying to take a leg off.

Soon as the blades connected, Ryuu jumped back but this time he didn't flee into the mist and stayed in sight as he noted the orb glowing once more. However, this time Naruto smirked as he brought his hand towards him. "Kitsune Bi!(Fox Fire)"

The orb glowed brightly before blue flames shot forth from Naruto's hands and streamed towards Ryuu, who seemed surprised by this turn of events. Ducking below the flames, his eyes widened as Naruto seemed to have some control over them and contorted the angel just enough that the fire burned the back of his shirt off.

Ripping it off as it was now useless, Ryuu's eyes narrowed before he slid back into the mist. "I see now. Your sword has the capacity to absorb fire along with becoming pure lighting and I'm guessing it has a water ability due to the other orb. ...There is only one place one can get a sword like that, so how is it a Cloud ninja such as yourself was given a blade made by the legendary Kenshin?"

"Probably just as you were given yours. He simply saw me one day and thought I was worthy of such a blade." Naruto answered back knowing that his opponent's blade was made from Kenshin as well from the hint he was given.

"I see..." Ryuu's voice came from all around Naruto, reverberating through the mist making it seem like he was everywhere. "However, it doesn't matter. Your blade is a jack of all trades. Mine on the other hand, is a master of one therefore superior."

Naruto simply shrugged as he kept his focus on trying to locate Ryuu, so he spoke again to see if he could hone in on the origin of the voice. "Not necessarily. Those that can know a little of everything knows enough to keep up with a master of one yet has knowledge of keep the master guessing."

"Hmp, we'll see." Ryuu's voice this time wasn't reverberating making Naruto curse as he was right behind him with his sword slicing towards his spine.

Jumping forward and spinning, Naruto barely brought his blade forward enough to reflect as he hit the dirt. Rolling towards his opponent, he just missed the cleave before driving his blade into his opponent's gut.

But as he dispersed into water, Naruto's eyes widened as the sound of rushing water caught his attention but he had no time to avoid the attack or block. He took the full force of a spiraling water blast that crashed into the ground and turned into a torrent of flooding water that overtook the blonde.

Coughing as he slowly got to his feet, he was barely able to roll away from the cleave that was meant to take his head off. Instead a large gashed cut through his stomach as Naruto tumbled to the ground. However, the worse was yet to come as the wound began to sizzle making Naruto's eyes widen as he knew what was about to happen.

An explosion ripped through the mist, blowing a good chunk of it away before the rest slowly replaced it. However, Ryuu could tell that the blast hadn't taken care of his opponent. In fact, he was quite sure of it as he looked over only see a small portion of blood where the blonde had been. "Impressive. You cut off the tissue that I had ignited. That must have hurt."

Naruto panted heavily as blood flowed down torso freely as the red liquid stained his sword. However, with a controlled burst of the fox demon's chakra the wound slowly reattached to keep his blood loss minimum. "It is nothing. I was taught that it was necessary to sacrifice a limb in order to survive and give myself a chance to win."

This only made Ryuu smirk as he turned to where the blonde was. "Oh, so all I need to do is hit your limbs then and you would cut them off. That makes things easier for me."

"Oh shit, I think Naruto might be in trouble here!" Omoi spoke as he was stunned at what he had seen so far. Naruto happened to be one of the strongest people he knew that was around his age and he was, well to be honest, getting his ass handed to him.

Karui was shocked at the fight so far as well. Naruto happened to be the strongest among the three of them, four is she included Samui as she still trained with them. "This is unreal... He might have to call upon it at this rate!"

While the others nearby wondered what 'it' was, they too were shocked at what was happening. Not so much that Naruto was losing, but that the Mist gennin was clearly dominating. The only one that did care was Gaara and he had simply turned his attention to the swordsman that beat his brother. He would be a problem is he could do the same thing to his sand.

"Kakashi, what's going on? Why is Naruto losing?" Konohamaru asked in the stands as he looked on at the elder gennin that saved him against Gaara. To say he was stunned was an understatement. He was utterly astonished from what he had been seeing.

The one eyed jounin simply shook his head as he watched the battle. "To be honest, I am surprised as well. But I have to give Ryuu credit, he is simply better then Naruto. But don't give up on him yet, this fight is not over."

"No, but we are about to see what he has left." Neji spoke as he walked down the steps to join in the conversation. He wouldn't admit it, but he was pulling for Naruto as he had beaten him so he better get through this round otherwise he wouldn't forgive him.

All attention was back in the arena as Naruto used a few hand seals before whispering the name lighting cutter once more. The blade immediately shivered before it was seemingly overtaken by lighting once more as Naruto held it before him, dispersing the mist around him. "Alright, it's time to start this party! Let's go wild!"

Having his hiding place in the mist suddenly uncovered by the blade of lighting, Ryuu cursed and tried to block the overhead strike coming towards him. But just before it made contact, it suddenly shifted direction and curved around his blade before cutting into his chest. Stunned as he had never seen anything like that before, he tried to block the next lighting fast swing only for the same result to happen as it curve around his blade and struck him in the stomach.

Coughing a small amount of blood, Ryuu used a replacement and watched the log be sliced in two. It was as if the blade was actually lighting and didn't travel in a straight line. And if he wasn't able to predict the sudden shift in direction he could not block it.

Knowing he had to go on the offensive once more, Ryuu charged straight to Naruto only to be slashed in two. As it turned into a puddle of water, Naruto threw himself forward before bringing his blade to his attacker only to discover it too was a clone.

Just as he done so many times before, Ryuu was behind Naruto with his sword ready to cleave him. But then came the shock of his life when Naruto put the blade of lighting before him and blocked his strike. It hadn't completely become lighting as the clang of metal was still heard.

However, this only made him smirk as he ignored the hairs on his arms standing up from the electrical charges going through his blade. "Ah, I see. Your blade can't entirely turn into lighting. Some of it must remain meaning... You are open for attack if I... Do this!"

The rest of the mist was blown completely away as the area both stood had suddenly erupted in flames and smoke. Debris filled the air, covering a good portion of the arena and even making those sensitive in the crowds start to cough. But as the dirt began to settle, it was obvious only one was standing.

It was a risk, but it had worked for him. He had managed to angle the explosion mostly away from him so he hadn't taken very much damage. But every muscle in his body ached and his ears were ringing. The next fight was going to be pretty difficult for him as he wasn't sure if he would be entirely ready for it.

"Damn, that was hard." Ryuu commented as he was ready to sheath his blade until he noticed that he couldn't find a trace of his opponent. Slightly unnerved by that fact, he kept his sword at the ready before the dirt underneath him began to move.

He immediately jumped away when Naruto suddenly burst from the ground below and was ready to unleash another attack when he noticed the blonde really hadn't attempted anything and feel to his knees.

Naruto was not very happy. He had not expected that Ryuu could summon explosions at will. As such, he had not been able to escape his last attack. The only thing he did escape from was certain death if he hadn't immediately used his blades other ability and empowered his wall of water.

Panting heavily, his eyes narrowed as Ryuu was next to him with his sword aimed straight for his neck. "Surrender now or I will finish this."

He could feel the fox inside of him seething. He did not want to lose, not to this guy and neither did he. There was only one chance for this and he wasn't going to waste it. Afterwards, he would thank the Kages for changing the arena as it would allow him to use this.

"GO TO HELL!" Naruto growled out before pushing the sword away with strength he did not have before and jumping back.

Staggering from the sudden burst of strength as he hadn't been that strong before, Ryuu quickly recovered only to see his opponent was going through hand seals at an outstanding rate. Whatever he was planning, he had to stop it. He could not let this fight slip away from him.

Charging towards him, he had no idea he had fell for Naruto's trap as he stepped onto the fissure filled with water.

Landing on the opposite end, Naruto muttered the seals in his head as he went through them. 'O-ushi, Usagi, Tora, Hebi, Uma, O-ushi, Saru, Nezumi, O-hitsuji, Nezumi, O-ushi...'

Ryuu was close, he was almost on him. He could identify the seals he was using, but whatever it was he would not be able to use. 'Ryuu, Tora, Saru, Hebi, O-ushi, Uma, Inu, Nezumi, O-hitsuji...'

'O-USHI!' Naruto thought as he finished the hand seals just as he saw Ryuu's blade arching for his head.

"SUITON: UZUMAKI NARUTO!(Water Style: Spiraling Maelstrom)" Naruto's cry sounded through the entire stadium as the water around him shivered as the blade was only inches from hitting his temple.

But a sudden burst of wind froze the blade in place as the water around them began to swirl violently and draw them in. Ryuu tried to force the blade further, but it was as if there was something that had literally came between him and his target. That when the water erupted around them and flooded the entire area.

The force was so great it pushed Ryuu away from Naruto. Trying to swim through it, his attention was suddenly caught by the enormous whirlpool roared as it sucked everything in to it. Trees, rocks and even part of the stadium was being taken with it. And whatever arrived in the center was crushed into another before breaking apart.

Having no choice as he was losing the battle against the water, he took a deep breath and dove into the water in hope he would find solid ground. The water was definitely stronger the deeper it was and he was only feet from the vortex, he drove his blade into ground and held onto dear life. He ignored the debris that smacked him and left gashes, he had to survive this.

It seemed like an eternity and his grip was loosening and it seemed like he would be crushed in the vortex, but it finally began to recede and the water slowly sunk back into the fissures they had come from.

Even though he was completely out of breath, Ryuu was ecstatic. He was sure he was a goner there at the waning moments. The fact that he survived, it was a miracle. Now he could end this battle as there was no way the blonde had any chakra left.

Well, that was what he thought until he heard foot steps rushing towards him before a primal grunt was heard. His eyes snapped towards the sound to see Naruto flying towards him with what seemed to be an orb of pure chakra pushed before him in his left palm.

He tried to pull his sword free from the ground, but he had forced it too deep into the ground and dislodging would take an explosion and that was not possible with his current strength and chakra. In a last ditch effort, he attempted to jump away but Naruto was too fast and the orb was driven into his stomach as Naruto cried out.

"RASENGAN!"

Everyone was thrown into shock as Ryuu's scream filled the stadium as the orb pierced into his stomach and grinded away. Only moments ago mostly everyone had believed the fight had belonged to the Mist swordsman but in a moment the tide of the entire battle had turned and now it was over.

Hitting the ground both skidded for a few feet. But only one stood up, his face burning with determination despite his drenched appearance as he looked down to his opponent and unsheathed his sword, placing it at his neck. "I win."

Naruto's appearance had silenced the entire crowd. While his clothing from the waist up were tattered and his body was badly bruised and cut, it was his drenched hair, that no longer was hidden by the bandana, and the glint in his eyes that made everyone that knew the fourth gasp.

"No way... He looks just like him." Kakashi muttered as his lone eye widened in shock. He knew Naruto was his teacher's son, but the resemblance was unmistakable. He damn near looked like a clone of the Fourth.

He wasn't the only one muttering in disbelief as many of the other ninja that had seen the Fourth, none more then those that had seen him fight. There was no doubt in their minds that the boy was his son.

Ryuu could not believe what had happened. He had this fight won and if he had only not offered him a chance to surrender the fight would have ended. But now, he was offering him the same respect and giving him a chance. But now... He didn't have the energy to continue nor would his body stand up after being physically drained before taking such a technique to his midsection.

He had been defeated.

He wasn't the only person that had noticed this as Genma reappeared in the arena and pushed Naruto's sword away from Ryuu. "Due to TKO, the winner of this match is Uzumaki Naruto!"

No sooner then those words left his mouth Naruto released a pent up scream before driving his sword into the ground towards the crowd, looking oddly satisfied as cheer began to rain down upon him.

"Holy fuck... Where the hell did that come from?" Omoi yelled out, having thought Naruto had been defeated moments before. He would be the first to admit that Naruto's victory had actually surprised him as Kyuubi did not seem to be involved.

Not sure what to make of it either, Karui could only shake her head in disbelief. "I don't know... But it was as if he just kept getting stronger the longer the fight lasted. I knew he had crazy stamina, but that's ridiculous!"

"What puzzles me is... When did he learn the jutsu that led to their rise of power in the Whirlpool? There are very few Uzumaki left, so not many should know of it." Kuro added as she looked down at Naruto as he removed his sword before roaring in victory once more.

Upstairs in the Kage booth, the Kazekage's eyes had nearly bulged out of his head as he thought the Fourth Hokage had come back to life. He almost halted all his plans and fled but began to reason that the Forth was dead and that Naruto was merely his son. That still didn't calm him down too much.

Mei whistled, very impressed from what she had seen in the fight. "Damn, he is a looker just like his father. If he were closer to my age, I would take him in a heart beat."

"That's... very comforting." Yugito responded with distain in her voice, not liking that the woman was coming onto her little brother. She was fine with girls around his age or even those that were in their late teens, very early twenties. But she was in her thirties and that was just too old for her to accept.

The Raikage grinned at Yugito's reaction, glad that she was finally returning to normal, before responding. "Hell, every girl in the village back home wants him. That's why he dresses the way he does. He doesn't want their attention. But returning back to the fight, I think we might have given Naruto that one. I don't think that last jutsu would have been possible."

"It was a calculated risk." Mei commented, returning from her lusting at the possibility of Naruto being older. "Ryuu knew some powerful water jutsu as well and even used one. Without the water, the fight wouldn't have demonstrated both of their fullest potential so it was worth it."

"I agree with Lady Mei. It obviously should have given Ryuu the advantage but in the end it happened to favor Naruto. And I, for one, believe that battle was far beyond what I had expected. I might be so bold to say they both showed they are capable chunin." The Hokage added with a smile on his face.

He hadn't seen a battle like that in ages, especially from two gennin. As far as he was concerned, that was a battle between two **JOUNIN** capable ninja.

Not wanting to be left out and make it seem he wasn't impressed, the Kazekage finally spoke. "Ah yes, that was indeed impressive. But that must have been very taxing on him. I am unsure if he will be able to deal with my son now."

E's laughed, however, made the Kazekage frown as he looked at him. "Excuse me; is there something funny Lord Raikage?"

The Raikage simply nodded as he tried to keep from laughing more. "I'm just laughing at your confidence in your boy, even though we all know you have tried to kill him repeatedly. Besides, I've been training Naruto since he was first able to walk. I know the boy well and let me tell you... He becomes stronger when he is put into a corner, just like all foxes. That is why he has a second nickname in our village."

"Oh, I didn't know that. I only knew of the Crimson Rouge as he has a tendency to go off on his own in the middle of a mission." Mei stated interested to know what it was so she could add that into the bingo book. After all, she had to make sure her ninja knew not to deal with him.

"Well, you have to first understand that both his team mates have nicknames. Karui is the Flame Gypsy as her mother was one of the last and she is well now for using flames. Omoi is called Silver Owl, a reference to his hair and how analytical he can be. And finally Naruto, the Grave Fox." E explained, however purposely leaving out the reason for Naruto's nickname.

This caught all of their attention, especially the Hokage as he had a feeling he knew why. But to make sure, he had to ask. "And why is that?"

Sighing, he was about to explain when Shi, Yugito's brother, beat him to it. "Well for one, it is because of what Lord Raikage said about Naruto become stronger the longer a fight lasts and that at times he fights like the beast within. However, the other is because if he isn't on a mission, training or at home, he is at the graveyard, talking to the graves of his parents and loved ones. Because of that, some believe he can talk to the dead and that is how he earned his other nickname."

"Wait, wouldn't the Forth Hokage's grave be here?" Mei asked, frowning as it was highly unorthodox for it to be elsewhere and even if his son lived in the Cloud she doubted the Leaf would give up the remains of their hero.

"It is as is his mother's. But we made the graves nonetheless so Naruto could talk to him." Shi responded once more for the Raikage as Darui and his sister didn't seem like they wanted to answer.

The other three Kages nodded, understanding the delicate nature of a boy's mind, especially one born into a world without his parents.

Back with the gennin, Naruto climbed the stairs and made it back with a shit eating grin. Karui seeing this had to take her shot at him while showing her concern. "Naruto, you look like shit. Maybe you should see the medics to take care of your wounds."

"Bah, they are fine." Naruto reprimanded her as he walked over to the spot he preoccupied before his fight. "Besides, my blood is rushing. I can't wait to get back out there and fight again."

Both Chouji and Hinata simply looked at one another as they knew whoever won between them would have to fight him. Neither would looking forward to it after what they had just saw and seeing the pure excitement on the blonde's face knowing he was telling the truth. He wanted to get out there and fight again.

"I don't know if I want to fight anymore... I think I rather just wait for the next exams and try again." Chouji admitted as he looked over at Naruto with wide eyes, not even caring that Hinata was his next opponent.

Hinata simply nodded in agreement before looking over to where her father was, hoping he didn't want her to compete after that. She didn't want to have to fight that!

Hiashi saw the look his daughter was giving him in the stands as Neji rejoined him. Honestly, he couldn't blame her. The training she had received over the month really wasn't enough to deal with that. "Neji, what do you think of Hinata's chances if she wins this next fight are?"

"Truthfully?" Neji questioned as his father looked over at him nodding at him that it was okay as did Hiashi. "Um, none. Fighting him in the preliminaries was tough, but to know he was that good and how he defeated me... I don't see Hinata landing a single blow on him. Especially not now seeing how pumped he is to fight again."

"I see." Hiashi responded, scratching his chin for a moment before turning to his brother. "Hizashi, you may tell her she can concede after her next match."

Hizashi nodded before turning and leaving to tell Hinata. But as he left, Hinata's sister, Hanabi spoke with confusion feeling her voice. "Father, why are you letting Hinata quit? Isn't that cowardice?"

Blinking for a moment, Hiashi smiled at her as she knew the importance of courage. "Hanabi, sometimes there are fights that cannot be won and the only options is to retreat. Hinata is strong, but so is Neji and the difference between their skills is negligible at best."

"He also happened to defeat Neji a month ago and is why Neji isn't competing today. So, if he doubts that he could beat him the chances are Hinata cannot win either." He finished explaining as Hizashi returned.

Hanabi looked at her father for a moment before nodding, understanding what he father was telling her. "So he is really strong then? Can he beat the bogeyman guy that Hinata is afraid of then?"

"It is possible... But Gaara is one tough opponent. And despite being fresh from his last fight, he was still worn down from it. We will just have to wait and see." Neji answered, knowing she was talking about Gaara as Hinata literally referred to him as the bogeyman as she told him of what happened when she ran across him.

Nearby, a single Anbu was pondering what to do. Everyone would be in place by now, but Sasuke had yet to fight and his master really wanted to watch his fight. Yet the fights had lasted to long and if their troops were to wait any longer the chances of succeeding were low at best. They were already low as it was, but they became so much lower.

Looking into the Kage booth, he hoped to get a sign only to catch his master's eyes and see him nod. It was time to go then, even if they didn't get to see what Sasuke was capable of.

"Will Hyuuga Hinata and Akimichi Chouji please make their way down to the arena?" Genma announced after the medics had taken Ryuu to be healed.

Sighing, Hinata felt a little better after her uncle told her she could concede in the next round. However, Chouji seemed to be a wreck. She obviously knew that the boy, despite his training over the last month, had a slim chance of defeating her and if he somehow did, Naruto was his next opponent.

Patting him on the back, Hinata attempting to alleviate some of his anxiety. "Don't worry, Chouji. Let's just do our best and see where that leads us. ...Wait, something's wrong!"

She hadn't been the only one to notice it as everyone's vision began to be blocked out because of feathers. "Genjutsu! Everyone dispel..."

Her voice was drowned out by a huge explosion in the Kage's booth followed by being nearly ran over as Gaara, Temari and Kankuro fled over the wall with Sasuke hot on their heals.

Even if they hadn't heard her, they had dispelled the illusion outside of Lee as he began to become weary as did many others watching before they passed out. Lee was spared as Hinata rushed over to him knowing he had no chakra of his own to dispel the genjutsu.

Looking around to see what happened, Lee obviously was the first to yell out as what seemed to be Sand and Sound ninja filled the arena. "What's going on here?"

"Invasion." Was all Naruto said as he unsheathed his sword and grinned eagerly. Oh, the heavens answered his prayer and gave him many people to fight.

* * *

**A/N**: And there is the fifth chapter. This is probably one of my favorite chapters I have written yet, which is saying something, and it is mostly because of the battle between Ryuu and Naruto and the relationship the two have beginning to show, much like the relationship I noted Minato and E having.

And this keeps coming up and to clarify, I don't really give a damn about what the Naruto map looks like or where the Whirlpool actually is. I've retooled it to fit my story. I am also map illiterate anyways so it doesn't matter in the first place as I'll just get darts and throw them onto a map and say that's where it is.

Anyways, outside of that if you have any questions or just want to stop and say 'What's up?', leave a review and I'll get back to you when I can. So see you all later for the next update, which will be every two weeks.

Peace Out.


	6. Chapter 6

I Do Not Own Naruto

* * *

Okay, he would admit it. The explosion caught him off guard. He just hadn't been suspecting that. Sure, he had begun to suspect that the Kazekage wasn't the true Kazekage, but it had been a little too late.

He now was whisked away and now looking down his traitorous former student, whose mask had been ripped off as E had almost caught him right before the explosion. He was only a second too late otherwise Orochimaru probably would have lost his head in the process.

"Fuck that was close." Orochimaru cursed before looking towards the Hokage and sighing in relief. "However, I still managed to get to you so it matters not. Don't worry about the first barrier, go straight to the second! We can't afford letting them get in here!"

The four sound shinobi guarding Orochimaru did as he asked and quickly got into place to activate the barrier, setting down marks to make sure it would activate it. A violet barrier sprouted from the markings leaving the Anbu that had followed unable to break in. "Ah, that's better. I guess now we can begin sensei."

"Your plan will never work my former student. The Leaf will not fall to the likes of you." The Hokage announced before he slid his robes off, revealing he wore his ninja gear underneath. "I was prepared for something like this, but not to this extent. But no matter, you shall not succeed in your plan today."

"We already have. Both my ninja and those worthless Sand ninja have already invaded the town. It will only be a matter of moments before this village is wiped of the face of the earth. And I always have the Ichibi vessel to crush this village just in case." Orochimaru spouted back, confident that even with the addition to the other two Kage outside he would succeed.

Just outside the barrier, E, Mei and their guards arrived to see the barrier and the Anbu trying to find a way to pierce through it. Seeing everything they did erupt into flames, E thought for a moment as he heard what Orochimaru said before turning to Darui, Shi and Yugito. "Go and help evacuate the villagers so Konoha can fight at full force."

"Ao, Zabuza, do the same. We'll handle this. Then you can kill till your hearts content!" Mei told her guards as she looked for any signs of weakness in the barrier and for once she was not smiling.

Each did as they were told and quickly went to find the closest Konoha ninja so they could help in the evacuation.

Soon as they had left, Orochimaru cackled as he took his attention off the Hokage and gazed over to the two other Kages. "Please, there is no way in here. Try to get in with all your might, you will fail."

Punctuating his statement was the four ninja that were holding the barrier surrounded one another so that the Hokage couldn't attack them and shatter the barrier.

However, Mei smiled as she personally took that as a challenge as she wiped a finger across her lips. "Is that so? I wonder just how much punishment the ones inside the barrier can take?"

Looking over each of the four guards, she found the one that she knew happened to be the weakest. "You don't look like you can take very much."

Snarling at her, Kidomaru said nothing as he knew better then to infuriate a Kage. If there was anyone that could possibly break down the barrier, it would be one of these two. Still he was confident enough to believe she would not be able to do so. "Go ahead and try. Not even Jiraiya of the Sannin could defuse this barrier."

Mei only smirked further before her eyes gleamed and her smile widened, taking that as a challenge. "Well then, I guess I'll just have to use my blood lines then. Let's see how well you like being boiling from the inside out!"

All eyes were suddenly on Kidomaru, who was frozen in fear. However, he didn't stay frozen long as he started convulsing and his breathing became labored. "What... What the hell are you doing to me?"

"I told you did I?" Mei responded, still smiling as she looked down at the sound ninja. "I am boiling you from the inside out. Too bad, if you were only stronger you could negate my technique. But that's why I picked you."

Looking up at her in horror as his veins began to pulse while the blood boiled, the bubbles pressing against his skin before bursting started oozing out. But it didn't stop there as his entire body began to literally char and flake off before he burst into flames and exploded, blood flying everywhere as the barrier fell.

Mei, even despite standing besides him, wasn't covered by an ounce as she walked in with E following. "Now then, shall we begin dismantling this faggot? After all, I can't sign a treaty with a dead man, Lord Hokage."

While being slightly disturbed by the violent nature of her attack, the Hokage couldn't help but chuckle. Hell, he was quite sure now that he would survive this ordeal as he had to admit he was getting old and rusted. "That is true, Lady Mei. However, do not be fooled. Orochimaru is a threat."

"We'll see about that." E retorted as he popped his knuckles and grinned. He had always wanted to fight one of the Sannin and now he had a chance.

Too bad he wouldn't get to fight him alone.

* * *

"Where in the world did all of these ninja come from?" Kiba yelled out loud as he jumped in front of Ino before drilling his opponent with a Piercing Fang.

"Does it really matter? Just fight!" Talmor yelled in response as he decapitated an unsuspecting Sound ninja that Tenten had been distracting with a barrage of missile weaponry. She wasn't exactly at full health, but was able enough to defend herself.

"Yosh! Thank you for helping Tenten! She still hasn't recovered from her severe concussion!" Lee yelled out before driving two separate ninja's heads into the concrete.

"Don't mention it... Ever!" Talmor responded before jumping back as a group of sound chunin jumped before him.

However, each of them hit the ground as a blade made of pure lighting sliced right through them. They were dead as they hit the ground while Naruto cursed up a storm. "What the hell? Why in the hell are these guys so fucking weak? I mean we can't be that strong!"

Throwing a ninja that snuck up behind him, Neji drove his palm into the man's heart and ended his life immediately. "Maybe since we are fighting for our lives, we're discovering latent abilities! But who freaking cares!"

"I do!" Omoi screamed as he drove his katana through a man's midsection before kicking him down. "Chunin and jounin are not suppose to be this easy to fucking kill for gennin!"

A loud explosion caught everyone's attention when Ryuu reemerged from the medical station in the stadium, despite the medics' orders not to. He was going to be damned if they were going to keep him from proving himself. "Will you all shut the fuck up and just fight?"

"Ryuu, are you okay?" Kuro immediately was at his side with her daggers ready to strike.

"I'm fine! They fixed my wounds so they won't be that much of a hindrance and they gave me a soldier pill so my chakra has returned. Now let's kill some goddamn ninja!" Ryuu responded before running in front of Kuro and slashing into two enemy ninja. A moment later they suddenly exploded thanks to his sword's ability.

Having her question answered, Kuro jumped out of the arena before driving one of her daggers into an unsuspecting chunin's head. As she reached the top, she noted that there wasn't too many ninja left up there only to see the fights heading into the streets. "Dammit, they're trying to lure us into the streets!"

"Fuck!" Naruto yelled out as he knew there had to be a lot more enemy ninja out there. "These guys were probably just to lure us out there to slaughter."

"No doubt. While in here we are able to defend ourselves as there isn't many ways in. Out there they would have the advantage in numbers but also due to the location. We're safer in here." Omoi stated as he flicked the blood of his katana before narrowing his eyes as Karui was about to chase after them.

However, he was saved from yelling out at her when Shikamaru jumped in front her. "Stop, your team mate is right. If we go out there, we will die. It is safer for us to defend ourselves in here."

Karui cursed as she didn't want to stop, but after a moment she knew it was a good idea. The street would definitely hold more skilled ninja then what they had fought within the stadium. "Dammit! Are we suppose to just stay in here and wait for the fight to be brought to us?"

"Calm down Karui." Kirabi stated as he jumped down from above, having been dealing with the actual jounin that tried to get into the stadium. "We have a job for all of you that want to go. It will be dangerous, so only those capable can do so, however."

Appearing besides him, Kakashi nodded in agreement. "We need at least four but no more then six of you to head out there and help Sasuke. He chased after Gaara not knowing he was the vessel of Shukaku. We need the strongest to go as that is the only way we can defeat them."

"I'll go!" Konohamaru yelled as he was ready after taking a few of the ninja out that got into the stadium. He also wanted to get another chance at Gaara.

"No you will not! You may have improved over the month, but Gaara will kill you. As of now, Naruto is the only one among you that can fight him, seeing that Ryuu is not at full health." Kakashi reprimanded his student before his gaze turned to both Naruto and Ryuu. He would deal with Konohamaru later.

"I'm more then ready." Ryuu commented as he grinned, not caring if his wounds weren't entirely healed. He was a Mist ninja and they fought till the bitter end.

"I have no choice in the matter. Only I can combat Gaara as of now, especially if he releases the one tail's power." Naruto stated as he released the lighting cutter and sheathed his blade.

"I'm in. That blonde hair bitch was suppose to be my opponent. She'll pay for screwing up my chances becoming chunin!" Karui growled as she was ready to go after them and tear Temari a new hide.

"Both Naruto and Karui are in, so am I." Omoi added on, not going to be left behind his friends. Besides, he knew without him they would ignore some of the finer details.

"Sir Naruto and Ryuu are going, so I will accompany them and fulfill both of my duties." Kuro responded as she didn't want to disappoint her team mate or lord once more.

"Seeing as I, unfortunately, one of the most intelligent here and can keep those guys off our tails, I'll go. Besides, there needs to be at least one Konoha ninja on this mission." Shikamaru finished as he knew this mission would be hard and they would need another analytical thinker besides Omoi.

"Then it's settled! You three are to retrieve Sasuke!" Gai flamboyantly yelled as he appeared before suddenly driving a sound ninja through the wall with only one arm.

All the gennin could only sweat drop, except for Lee, for the man's unbelievable strength. Kakashi simply nodded, glad Gai created the hole in the wall before summoning one of his ninken known as Pakkun. "Ah Kakashi, what is it you want this time?"

"I want you to track down Sasuke's scent and lead them to him." Kakashi said before handing over a small piece of a torn shirt, probably one of Sasuke's older shirts, for Pakkun to smell.

Getting the scent, Pakkun nodded before turning to the six. "Alright, you six keep up. They are traveling fast... It is almost as if they are trying to get out of Konoha."

"Might be possible, but I doubt. I think Gaara's trying to find a spot where he can release Shukaku without being disturbed." Naruto responded as he was slightly disturbed hearing how far ahead they had already gotten.

"So let's go then! I doubt we can deal with a fucking bijuu!" Ryuu yelled as he jumped out the hole first quickly followed by Pakkun. The rest quickly fell in pursuit.

Kirabi popped his shoulders as he stretching his arms out as the more power ninja began to head into the stadium. "Ah, now I get to go all out. Time for the eight tails to shine!"

In an instant, Kirabi was covered in the demon's chakra. Both Kakashi and Gai immediately got out the way. They knew better then to deal with a demon vessel, especially when four tails had been summoned.

* * *

"Dammit, we're being followed!" Ryuu yelled out as he could hear their foot steps, even though there was a good distance between the group and them.

"These guys probably aren't like the ones in the stadium. They were simply cannon fodder. These guys are the real deal." Omoi added on as he placed one of his hands securely on his katana wanting to make sure he was ready.

"We don't have enough time to confront them. I can smell that Sasuke is good distance in front of him, but he has stopped now but I don't think he will stay put long. Only one of the siblings scents are with him, meaning the other two have moved ahead." Pakkun barked as he wasn't going to slow down and let the gap between.

Thinking for a moment, Shikamaru quickly formulated a plan. "We need to have two stay behind and ambush them. Despite it probably will fail as they were more likely briefed on the layout, we need to give Naruto time to get to Gaara. As Kakashi said, I doubt the rest of us are capable."

Frowning for a moment, Ryuu would have said something but his fight with Naruto flashed in his head. He had to give the blonde credit for beating him and without being looked at by a medic and he looked like he could have run a marathon then go a round with the Raikage...

"I stay behind. I'm not fully recovered and I doubt I'll be any use against Gaara as of now." Ryuu volunteered, silently giving Naruto consent that he was better then he was.

"I will to. With my shadows, I can stop them from moving for a while and allow you quick kill shots. Just tell me before you take one down so I can release them as whatever damage they take I will take as well." Shikamaru stated so he wouldn't get behead or blown up.

"Fine, the rest of you go on ahead. We'll deal with them." Ryuu spoke as he began to slow down before he used an all too familiar seal as mist began to fill the area. "This won't affect your shadows, will it?"

"No, this is fine. In fact, this gives me more shadows so I'll be fine." Shikamaru stated before he found what seemed to be a good place for an ambush. "There, I can hide in there while you distract them and catch them."

"Ryuu, be careful okay!" Kuro yelled from the group just before the group sped off into the distance, leaving Ryuu and Shikamaru alone.

Ryuu only smiled before nodding as he waited for the ninja to arrive. She was far too kind for his tastes, but despite that he had a small soft spot for her. Turning, he smirked as he unsheathed his blade form his back and pointed it towards the sound jounin that had arrived. "This is as far as you go."

"What can a gennin like you do?" The head sound jounin snarled at the mist gennin, pissed that his squad had been sent after some punk kids that were trying to stop Gaara's transformation.

However, his cocky attitude had quickly been replaced as he suddenly found he couldn't move his body an inch. That is when he saw Shikamaru stand up from the bushes with a smirk on his face. "Shadow Bind success. They are all yours, Ryuu."

Ryuu grinned broadly as he gripped his sword and gave the jounin a manic grin. "Now you will all see why I am known as the Burst Swordsman!"

* * *

Hearing explosions in the distance, Naruto had a good feeling that Ryuu and Shikamaru had just taken care of the ninja chasing after them.

Focusing his attention on the task before hand, he noticed Pakkun suddenly stopped and growled. "We're being watched. I think this is the one that stalled Sasuke a while ago."

"If he's hiding, it is probably the puppet user. I'll take care of him as none of you, no offense, can diagnose and dissect soma's style as fast as I can. Besides, that means blondie is waiting for you, Karui." Omoi state bluntly while appealing to Karui as he knew she wanted to fight Temari.

Knowing he hit the bull's eye as Karui became suddenly pissed before she turned to Pakkun before cutting the trip wires in front of them. "What are you waiting for, get going mutt!"

While Pakkun took offense to this, he wasn't going to argue with the girl as she seemed to be filled with righteous anger and he knew better then to do so. That was when a woman was their most dangerous.

Leading the three gennin left, Pakkun launched forward as Naruto and Karui cleared any trip wire before them while Omoi stayed behind, taking the scenery in.

There was a lot of trip and razor wires set, obviously to keep anyone from moving on. But they weren't thick enough to keep someone from slipping through if they needed to. In fact, the spaces were just big enough for one person, or a human-sized puppet, to get through safely and easily.

However, if he were to head into the wires he would be playing into his opponents hand and would get himself caught. But if he was to stay here, he doubted he would come up after him as he easily turn himself into a target.

His choice became clearly apparent as the foliage besides him suddenly shimmered and a giant puppet that was as large as the Raikage himself appeared, its stomach hatch opened wide and ready to swallow him whole.

Diving into the wires below, Omoi expertly weaved through them as the puppet above did not follow due to the risk of it being damaged. Dropping down onto a branch, he scanned his surroundings for any possible escape route or any enemies approaching. Drawing his katana, he sliced one of the wires as something was odd about it.

He instantly realized what was wrong as the wire that broke snapped all of those around it as a huge log, the size of a battering ram, swung down from below to crush him into the tree.

Once again, Omoi dived further into the thicket of wires that were getting tighter and tighter, making it a tight fit. Being cut a few times by the razor wires, Omoi cursed as he reached a new branch before cursing. "Dammit. I'm really playing his game right now. If I jump down again, I'll be at the forest floor and I'm sure there is going to be traps galore down there."

Finding it hard to move, he thought about cutting the wires again but last time that had ended disastrously. Taking a closer look of his surroundings, he noticed no clear indicator of any traps as the wires were simply wrapped around the trees and brushes. However, if there was any traps they would be hidden in the bushes so cutting the wires attached to them would be a bad idea.

Getting ready to make a few precision cuts, Omoi stopped as he heard movement behind him. Looking back, his eyes widened in horror as the giant puppet had somehow, someway had made it down to him. Sure, he cut down a lot of the wires impeding his path through the last thicket, but how in the hell did it make through this last one.

Having no choice otherwise he would fall victim to this puppet trap, he cut through all the wires before him and jumped to the ground below. He aimed to cut the wires that left very little openings when kunai, shuriken and senbon fired from the bushes from all around him and towards him.

Cursing, he sliced through the first set of wires before deflecting as many of the missile weaponry he could. Still, there were a good few that pierced his legs and arms as he was protecting his head and torso. But before he could bring his attention back the wires, he crashed into them.

Wrapping around him, cutting into his flesh, Omoi yelled as he broke through those before the ones surrounding them wrapped him in a tight cocoon making it almost impossible for him to move.

"Well, well, well. Looks like my web managed to catch a fly. I guess Temari will take care of the rest of you." Kankuro spoke as he looked up at Omoi as he moved away from his hiding spot. "Now, there will be one less pest."

Growling, he noted the puppet that Ryuu had destroyed a month ago had apparently been fix or remade as it separated into many different pieces, each with a blade at the end. Looking at his surroundings, Omoi noticed a few of the shuriken and kunai shot from the traps in the bush were close enough to the wires that were entrapping him. If he just cut a few to get his sword free...

See his prey wiggle, trying to escape his fate Kankuro decided to prolong his death and inch the blades towards him slowly. "You know, I always wanted to try this as I've seen Gaara do it many times. Prolonging the life just to see the little emotions on their face... To see who they truly are."

Narrowing his eyes, Omoi continued wiggling in his entrapment. This guy was sick, no getting around that but he was dumb to. If he had seen where his launchers had sent the missile weaponry, he would be worried.

With a great crack, the wires broke as Omoi freed his blade and with one might sweep he cut himself free.

Kankuro's eyes widened as Omoi flew straight down to him. He shouldn't have been able to escape those wires. They were made to keep from breaking unless thousand pounds of force was put onto them. Trying to salvage the situation, he sent the arms now turned blades of crow towards Omoi only to see them severed.

Screaming as he brought his sword down, Omoi was ready to cleave the puppet user in two. However, one last time the giant puppet appeared before him but this time he didn't care. With one swipe of his katana, he almost sliced it in two but near the bottom it got jammed.

Not caring, Omoi went through a few seals before yelling out his attack in anger. "Raiton: Raitama!(Lighting Style: Lighting Shot)"

With a flick of his wrist, Omoi shot a ball of electricity from his palm and into Kankuro's chest before the puppeteer could get out of the way. The said blast knocked Kankuro off his feet and into the foliage. A loud crack was immediately heard before Kankuro was lifted into the air by a snare, his head probably hitting a stone on the way up.

Not caring in the least, Omoi simply turned from Kankuro and headed in the direction he last saw Naruto, Karui and Kuro leave in. He planned on catching them to see if there was anything he could help in.

* * *

As they traveled deeper into the forest, it slowly became darker and creeper. It looked more like something out of science-fiction novel then what most normal forests looked like.

Despite that, Naruto continued on unfazed as he followed Pakkun with Karui and Kuro. Normally, he would actually say something about the scenery but he hardly cared at the moment before he noticed a few broken trip wires. His eyes narrowed before a burst of wind nearly blew them off the tree tops.

For Pakkun, he would have been knocked off it Kuro hadn't caught the ninja dog and put him back down. "What was that?"

"It's the bitch!" Karui growled as she reached down and drew her katana. "You two go ahead. She's mine!"

Taking her word, knowing she was very well capable of winning, Naruto quickly followed after Kuro as Pakkun took the lead once more as both Gaara's and Sasuke's scent was close.

Standing her ground, Karui's eyes quickly found the blonde fan wielder, leaning on her fan. "Oh, so you are the one I'm going to fight. Pity, this is going to be to easy then."

"Shut you mouth. You cost me my opportunity to become a chunin, bitch." Karui hissed before letting her instinct take over as she lunged towards Temari.

Smirking as her opponent's anger was clouding her judgment, Temari beat her back with one flick of her fan summoning a powerful burst of wind. "Please, I'm going to have to wait as well. I had to wait for my brothers to become of age so I could finally take this exam and now it gets interrupt by the damn sannin's plan."

Cursing as she fell from the tree tops, Karui skidded down the closest tree before finally stopping at the root. Looking up, Karui pointed her katana straight towards the blonde. "No, but you are a part of this invasion so therefore partially responsible. So I'm going to take my frustration out on you!"

"Ah, now that makes a little more sense." Temari responded as if she was trying to chat with a friend, acting as if Karui was a good comrade.

Karui, now with a more level head, gauged her opponent's ability. She knew she could use powerful winds and in such a dense forest they were bound to be weakened. Yet it would also make traveling a hazard to get to her target, who was high in the tree tops and a good distance away.

Realizing how far she had been blown away from just the own swing, Karui's respect level for Temari grew. No wonder she took out Talmor so quickly. Those burst of wind carried a lot of power, more then likely amplified by the fan. This was going to test her, she simply hoped she could get out of this with the win.

Ducking behind a tree as a burst of wind, Karui took off at first sign of a let down only for more bursts to knock her back. Growling, Karui took to the trees, using more chakra then normal to keep her grip onto the bark as the wind began to intensify making it hard to move.

Suddenly, the bark beneath her feet broke and she plummeted to the ground, her katana saving her as she drove it into the tree to stop her sliding. She winced as she would need a new blade after this as while they were durable, cutting twenty feet into a tree with the dull end caused major damage to a blade.

Still, Karui was annoyed that she hadn't made an ounce of progress towards her target, who just smirked at her. "Ah, what's the matter? Can't get to little ole me?"

Reining her anger in, keeping from lashing out at her opponent, Karui ducked behind the tree once more as she thought of what to do. Her opponent had her pinned and wouldn't let her get close enough for a jutsu. Still, there had to be a way to get around her.

Attempting to gauge Temari's reaction, Karui used a simple clone and had it move from behind the tree and into the open. No sooner then it had, Temari unleashed a powerful gust dispersing it immediately. So she did so again, this time with two clones in quick unison. The same result. She got the same result when she sent three, so this got her thinking before she finally had an idea.

Temari was getting suspicious as well. Three clone attacks in a row. Hm, either she was trying to get her to waste chakra, which thanks to her fan was not going to happen any time soon, or she was getting ready to use the clones as bait.

If she happened to be Karui, she would use the clones and have them travel tree to tree while she climb high into the tree tops, using the canopy as cover to get close enough and launch an attack that would end the fight. That was about the only thing she could do. She would humor the girl and continue, but she knew where to look as the clones came from behind the tree.

Blasting the first batch away with ease, Temari followed up with a few bursts of wind while keeping her eye on the main tree, looking for a sign that Karui was sneaking up it. Seeing some of the bark crumble from the tree, she smirked as that was exactly what the girl had been planning.

Dispersing the clones that kept seemingly getting closer, Temari's focus was more on the tree tops as she watched the real Karui move through the canopy and towards her before finally hovering over her. Giving her one last blast, dispersing the clones she allowed her to believe she didn't notice her.

Just as she predicted, Karui jumped from the tree tops with her sword point straight for her chest. Temari smirked as she suddenly turned to her with her fan ready. "Got you!"

With a single burst, she caught the dark skin kunoichi in her blast only then to look utterly horrified. The Karui had dispersed into nothing. The one in the canopy was a clone? Then the real one must have been...

Looking down her eyes widened as she saw Karui running up the tree towards her with blazing speed. Not having much time to react, Temari swung her fan with as much brute force as she could muster almost summoning a demi-tornado as the woods creaked and moaned from the pressure asserted onto them.

But once more, she looked on horrified as Karui simply dispersed. If that wasn't her, then where was the real one?

No sooner had she said that, Karui suddenly sprang from the canopy with her hands forming the last seal of her jutsu. "Raiton: Raiburto!(Lighting Style: Lighting Bolt)"

Temari had no chance to react as the bolt crashed into her, briefly paralyzing all function in her body as she was knocked off her platform of the tree. Plummeting to the ground, Karui held no remorse as she watched the blonde fall to her doom as the fall would surely kill her.

But the girl had some lucky and her outfit caught on a branch and held firmly for a moment before breaking, allowing her to tumble into the dirt below. It was less likely she had died now, but she would be out for a while.

And that's how Karui would leave it. There was no point or honor in killing a downed foe. She could do no more harm.

* * *

"He's close. Their scent is just beyond this hill!" Pakkun yelled out as they had finally caught up to Sasuke. Now the problem would be how to deal with Gaara.

Bursting through the thicket before them, there stood Sasuke panting with black flare marks covering his body. But what was facing him sent shivers down Naruto's back. Gaara was half way completed in transforming into a miniature Shukaku. The lone black eye shown brightly of insanity as did Gaara's lone emerald.

Jumping besides Sasuke, who was quite surprised to see two ninja let alone ninja from another village, Naruto stood before him as Kuro was quickly besides the downed Uchiha. "What hurts? I might not be a medic but I can help a little."

Sasuke, however, ignored her as he stood up despite his body was groaning as he did so. "Get out of here! You are no match against him! Even my Chidori did nothing but anger him!"

"Ah, so Kakashi taught you that." Naruto spoke as he knew of the technique very well, seeing as it had got a lot of Cloud villagers frustrated as they couldn't do the same. "Well, it shouldn't. That technique is useless against a demon vessel."

"UZUMAKI! I'M GLAD TO SEE YOU! NOW I CAN MAKE YOU SUFFER!" Gaara screamed in an inhuman voice that was literally screaming for his blood, not that he didn't make that apparent with his words.

Naruto calmly stood his ground, not even bothering to unsheathe his sword. It wouldn't do him much good here for much other then defense as it would be limited use against a demon. "Kuro, get Sasuke out of here. I can't fight to my fullest if both of you are here. You will only get in the cross fire."

"Are you insane! I told you to get out of here!" Sasuke yelled, but with a single tug at his shirt he was pulled down by Kuro.

Kuro gave Naruto a long look before nodding, knowing he was telling the truth. "Be careful, Sir Naruto. I wouldn't know what to do if I were to lose your too."

"You would live on, just as your family would have wanted you to." Naruto responded sympathetically, yet coolly as he looked ready to combat Gaara.

Her eyes widened as she looked at him in shock. He knew her family was dead? But then... Why did he want their engagement to be canceled? Wouldn't he have known that would hurt her more then it would have helped? Or, was it because of that he did so?

Confused, Kuro's stalling suddenly caught her into trouble as Gaara screamed out. "SUNA SHURIKEN!"

Bursts of power sand pellets flew towards them, Naruto forced to go airborne as the branches below him were snapped. However, Gaara didn't stop there as he lunged towards Kuro with his arm extended to crush her. Her eyes widened as he was moving far too fast for her to react, or so she thought.

Her bones began to crack and reshift as her muscles changed altered, her eyes widening as she looked up in the sky to see an ethereal orb flicker. Knowing what it was, Kuro's reaction time was increased by ten fold and with a single burst of her legs she had gotten out of the way and pulled Sasuke to safety.

Landing, she noticed the orb flicker out of existence, its job done. Still, as her body began to shift back to normal, Sasuke's eyes widened. The girl before him had become positively feral. She almost looked like a wild animal, no a wild wolf. Whatever she was, he decided he wasn't going to mess with her. He would just go along with what she said now.

Looking over to where Naruto landed, Kuro eyes flashed a little in anger but in gratitude. "Sir Naruto, take him down! Let's go Sasuke!"

Sasuke simply nodded and followed pursuit, not wanting to piss off a girl that could transform like that.

As they left, Naruto's attention could now fully be placed on Gaara. He had been glad he had been taught the phase moon technique by Kuro's father the only time they had met. If he hadn't used that, Gaara would have easily caught her and he wouldn't have known what he could do if he did.

"**Why waste time? Let's just blow this weakling away and get back to murdering those helpless fools that invaded this village.**" Kyuubi asked rather wanting to have a chance to humiliate the one tail, the chance of doing so before passing by as he was on a hunt. For what, he had forgotten.

'Not yet. If we use our power too early we could run out before he really gets going. I want to release it just when it would turn the tide and end it in our favor.' Naruto explained to the fox, knowing it would agree eventually.

Getting a gruff growl, Naruto knew the fox could careless but agreed. The fox knew he had his pride, so he let him fight this as long as he could before transferring his power.

Finally unsheathing his sword, Naruto glared at Gaara before a smirk twitched on his lips. "Ah, this will be a good one. I hope you don't disappoint me."

Gaara roared as he removed his claw from the bark before firing a few sand shuriken towards Naruto, who simply deflected them with his blade. Getting further impatient, the sand slowly began to trickle down his body and slowly turning his body more into that of a miniature Shukaku before the Gaara growled and lunged towards Naruto.

As he neared him, Naruto silently activated his lighting cutter and his blade sparked to life as he leapt towards Gaara to meet him head on. Bringing his blade down, it almost instantaneously turned the sand into glass. However, Gaara slammed the glass arm into Naruto, shattering it and the shards into him.

Seeing Naruto dissipate into water, Gaara screamed in frustration as he reformed his arm only to have it turn to glass once more as lighting struck it, this time from a bolt instead of the sword. Turning towards the direction it came, he saw Naruto charge him with his blade poised to drive into his gut, which was currently unprotected.

Firing a burst of shurikens, Gaara delayed Naruto enough before he flung himself down into the blonde literally body slamming him. While it wasn't the most brilliant thing to do as they were at least thirty feet off the ground, the sand had covered most of Gaara's body now almost doubling his weight.

When they hit, Naruto knew he was hurt. The fall hurt on its own but the crushing weight of one that had to be three-hundred pounds slamming into his body at such velocity was absolute agony. If it wasn't for the tolerance of pain he received in his training, he would have been stunned for a while from the blow.

However, as it was he was able to roll away as Gaara got off him and attempted to end the fight and crushing him with a claw of sand. Instead it knocked him back, staggering him into a tree.

Seeing this, Gaara took advantage and fired a burst of sand shuriken towards him in hope they would either stun him or disarm him. Either was acceptable as that blade was becoming a problem if it kept turning his and into glass. He could work with muddy sand, but he couldn't do anything with glass!

Not having much of a choice, Naruto managed to use a replacement after being hit by the first shuriken. Still, he had expected this to go the way it had so far, especially now as Gaara had completely transformed into a model version of Shukaku.

Currently, his sword still held some use but if he was to use the full power of the demon it would be utterly useless. He thought of using his water techniques, but the lack of water in the area negated that choice, meaning the Maelstrom would be useless unless he somehow got him close to a big body of water.

He had limited fire techniques and while he had a few more lighting ones, they all would only serve to stall the transformation. So he was literally stuck with the Rasengan as his best choice to bringing Gaara down quickly before his power went through the roof. And if that happened, Kyuubi was the only thing that stood in his way.

"UZUMAKI! I'M TIRED OF WAITING! LET'S FINISH THIS NOW!" Gaara screamed as he searched for Naruto, leaving deep gashes into trees as he searched for the blonde.

Hearing that Gaara was getting closer, Naruto sheathed his sword and used a few hand seals that end in tiger seal before jumping out from his hiding place before spewing out flames that suddenly took the shape of an arrow.

The flaming arrow hit Gaara in the chest in a blink of the eye. The sand vessel hadn't even had enough time to react as Naruto was on him before driving his knee into his gut followed by many quick blows before jumping back and out of his range, hiding in the foliage to avoid his sand shuriken.

This was becoming annoying to Gaara as Naruto continued his hit in run strategy, using multiple jutsu, anything from a lighting bolt to the fire arrow, to make an opening before getting in close and attacking him and retreating all before he could make a move. Each blow hurt, none more so then when he used the sword and cut into his armor of sand and into his skin.

Finally getting pissed, Gaara bellowed out before sand rushed in all directions in order to find Naruto. It was this when he heard a tree branch snap and looked up to see Naruto above him before a small dagger, he held pulled out of his tattered coat and drove it into his back side.

Knocking the blonde out and shooting out a few sand shuriken to move him away, Gaara went to take the dagger out when he noticed something odd. There was a note on the dagger and it seemed to be sizzling.

Before Gaara could throw the dagger away, it erupted but not into flames. It was only a flash of light that temporarily blinded everything that saw it. Naruto, not having seen it was not blinded and quickly carried out his plan as he formed a ball of pure chakra in both of his hands, not going to take a chance against this opponent.

As Gaara could not see him, Gaara thrashed around madly but it could not stop Naruto as he slipped by and drove the first Rasengan into his chest, tearing away much of the sand armor that surrounded his body. And then he followed with the second, but on sheer instinct he batted the blonde away and instead his right arm, well the sand arm, was taken off.

Howling in pain as it, Gaara didn't understand it. Why was this guy able to keep up and cause him pain while others couldn't? It annoyed him to no end that he had no answer for this, but if he didn't act soon the fight would soon turn against him.

Growing impatient, he began collecting as much of his mother's chakra he could before screaming out to the world. "I WILL NOT LOSE TO YOU UZUMAKI!"

That was the scream that Naruto heard as tons of sand began gathering around Gaara and rocketed forty meters high and began to take shape of the bijuu inside of him.

Down on the ground, Naruto could only look on a little shell shocked. "Oh fuck... Things just got harder."

"**You think! Now can we end this before Shukaku takes over completely!**" Kyuubi yelled at his vessel, knowing that this was going to be the outcome soon as he agreed to let his vessel fight till his heart was content. Though he had to give his vessel credit, he did almost take care of it without his power.

'Alright, I think it is at the point that I'm going to need you. But I'm not sure six tails will be able to handle this. I mean the damn thing is huge!' Naruto responded as he looked at the now fully formed Shukaku as Gaara emerged from its head.

"UZUMAKI! YOU HAVE DRIVEN ME TO THIS POINT, SO NOW YOU MUST SUFFER YOUR DUE PUNISHMENT! SO DIE!" Gaara screamed from the head of Shukaku, grinning as a literal wave of crushing sand fell from where he was down to the blonde below.

Naruto's eyes widened as he saw a literal wall of sand fell from Shukaku like an enormous avalanche and quickly fell down onto him. "No way! I can't dodge that!"

Even though he did his best to get out of the way he was unable to dodge. Knocked to the ground, Naruto tried to dig his way out as the sand began to envelope his entire body as squeeze tightly, applying far more pressure then what it took to breakdown a human body. The pressure was such that he soon became unable to even move as his bones creek and groan, barely holding up from the weight of the sand.

Gritting his teeth as he refused to scream, Naruto couldn't afford to wait. He had had to do this now. 'Fuck the Raikage's orders, we're sizing up to match him! I don't care it is eight or nine tails, just give me your chakra fox!'

Kyuubi simply grinned as he felt his vessel's anger grow. They were almost synchronized, so it would be possible. He just had to wait a little bit longer as he waited for his vessel's rage to reach a certain point. All he had to do was bring up a bad memory that would enrage him pass his threshold. And with one name, he did. "**Rika.**"

Naruto's body froze. That name... That name! His blood began to boil. How could he have failed when she need him so much? Why couldn't it have been any different? He was right there and he couldn't do a damn thing! It was her fault she had died!

In a burst of pure red chakra that stretched fifty meters across and reached almost the same height, the sand was blown off. All the trees in the area had been blown away, roots and all so a little ton of sand wasn't going to contain it. Then before all eyes that had been drawn to the burst, the chakra turned into a hellish storm of flames.

Gaara simply gazed at the flames in amazement but another emotion he had never known before. Even the demon within him was becoming afraid as a shape began to form before them. First it was only the skeleton, then the muscles slowly began to be formed, being created from the ashes of everything around, before skin and then the fur covered the form.

It was that of a fox. And there were nine tails majestically flowing behind it.

* * *

"Ow! Watch where you're going Cloud ninja!" Ryuu yelled as he had literally ran into Omoi, not having seen him and therefore stumbling into him.

"Fuck you! You ran into me!" Omoi yelled back ready to fight, not caring that this guy almost had beaten Naruto and in all of his spars against the blonde he hadn't even come close to doing so.

Ryuu growled and was about to take that as a challenge, alliance be damned. If he wanted a fight, he would give him a fight.

Before the two could fight, Shikamaru broke it up as he got between them. "Come on! You guys can fight later if you want, we still have a mission to accomplish!"

Grumbling as Shikamaru was right, Omoi and Ryuu glared at one another before nodding and followed after Shikamaru, seeing as he knew the area best.

Moments afterwards, Karui jumped before them, looking a little worn down. "Hey, what's up slow pokes? You just missed me tear down that sand bitch."

"Looks like she gave you a run for you money." Ryuu pointed out, noticing that she happened to look tired and her clothes were quite ruffled, suggesting that the wind mistress got a good few hits in.

Karui glared at him, but it wasn't the time to get in a fight with one another. "Whatever, Naruto and Kuro went ahead. It looks like Kuro was cutting marks into the trees so we could follow them."

"I've already noticed. I doubt she believes that Gaara will be easily brough down alone, but together we have a better chance to bring him down." Shikamaru stated as he saw the marks and knew they had been left behind the Mist kunoichi, as Naruto more then likely wanted to fight him alone.

Not wasting a second, they all began following the markings Kuro had left behind. Just as they made it past the dark forest, foot steps caught Ryuu's ears and he looked in the direction they came from. It took a moment for him to see with the foliage in the way, but he quickly identified his team. "Kuro's over there!"

Seeing everyone look at him as if he was crazy, the had no choice but to follow him as he jumped down and ran towards his team mate, who he could tell had the Uchiha with her. Jumping down before them, he had to deflect a kunai thrown from the said person they were sent to rescue. "Dammit, we're on your side Uchiha! Now where is the damn blonde and Gaara?"

While Sasuke wasn't sure what was going on, he did notice that Shikamaru was part of the group so he had to guess it was a combined effort set up by the jounin to aid him. At least that meant they had some allies helping them fight off the invasion, which was good as it would more then likely decrease the casualties.

"Sir Naruto is fighting Gaara alone and ordered both of us to retreat so he could fight at his full capacity." Kuro answered Ryuu as Sasuke was still coming to terms with the Cloud and the Mist, two former enemies of Konoha not to long ago, helping the Leaf.

Ryuu narrowed his eyes at this before growling to himself before Sasuke spoke, no longer under the influence of the curse seal. "Something was odd with Gaara to. He had begun to transform into some sort of monster and no matter what damage I inflicted upon him he recovered from it with frightening speeds."

Frowning even more Ryuu was about to order them to take them to him when Omoi spoke. "Then we better evacuate this area fast. If Naruto is about to go all out, this area will be destroyed very quickly."

"What? There's not that much water around here so I doubt he could use that maelstrom again!" Ryuu tried to state, believing that was why they said this area could be destroyed very quickly.

"Fool! We didn't know Naruto had that jutsu until today as that is the first time he has ever used! We know our team mate very well and we know what he is capable of!" Karui yell out and nearly smacked Ryuu as they tried their best to keep Naruto's demon from being discovered.

Kuro nodded before her eyes darted over towards where she knew the battle was occurring, hearing Gaara's demonic cries. "Sir Naruto wouldn't lie. He did indeed save this village twice before when he was born. I know he has the capacity to fight Gaara and defeat him to save this village once more."

"He's the vessel of Kyuubi, isn't he?" Shikamaru suddenly spoke as he put together the few pieces that he knew and added what he knew of what happened thirteen years ago. "It is the only other thing he could have saved us from and I had a feeling the Fourth couldn't kill a bijuu on his own."

Karui and Omoi gave each other a wary glance, not sure if they should say anything when their eyes widened as a giant burst of demonic chakra was heard along with Gaara's voice. "I WILL NOT LOSE TO YOU UZUMAKI!"

"Fuck... We need to get out of here now!" Omoi yelled out as they all could clearly see the creature that had been created from the sand.

"WHOA! How the hell are we suppose to deal with that thing?" Ryuu cursed very loudly as he followed after Karui and Omoi, as did every one as they were much to close to that thing then they were comfortable with.

"I don't think we can now!" Shikamaru countered back as he looked back, seeing what looked like an avalanche of sand coming down from Shukaku as they heard Gaara once more clear as day.

"UZAMAKI! YOU HAVE DRIVEN ME TO THIS POINT, SO NOW YOU MUST SUFFER YOUR DUE PUNISHMENT! SO DIE!"

"Everyone get to trees!" Sasuke barked out as he saw the sand coming too, knowing the pressure it could cause as his arm had nearly snapped from the grip alone.

Not bothered to argue with him as sand was moving faster then they were, they jumped to the tree tops as the sand rushed by them. Their trees held firm and as the sand began to stop shifting, they all looked back at the demon that had caused this, Gaara laughing in triumph. "SO THAT IS ALL YOU WERE CAPABLE OF UZUMAKI! PATHETIC!"

"Okay, we are in trouble now." Omoi solemnly spoke, his eyes widened as he wasn't sure how anything could survive the crushing force of that sand. The bark of the trees had literally been torn away many of those near Shukaku had been simply knocked down.

"Come on Naruto... You're stronger then this." Karui growled out, glaring at Omoi for even doubting their team mate. He was going to make as he had been through worse. She had seen hime come home after his training to control Kyuubi and when Rika died before them. As that thought came to her mind, her body shivered as she had remembered how he had lost control.

She wasn't the only that shivered, however. A cold wind blew as a dark and overwhelming presence filled area, making all that felt it dread what was about to come. It had literally froze Kuro, Ryuu and Sasuke as their eyes were glued to the sand as it began shift once more as if something was pushing it away.

Almost immediately, both Omoi and Karui recognized the feeling as there had been only one other time they sensed this dread on this magnitude. While it was similar to all the times they had seen Naruto transform under control, all being lower then four tails, this reminded them of that day.

The day Naruto's orphan had been taken from him.

A red blaze suddenly erupted and the sand was scattered. No one could hang onto their tree as the force was so powerful they flew dozens of meters before skidding across the sand and onto solid ground. But they had no time to rest as then trees began to fall from the sky and down upon them.

Even in their terrified states, they instinctively dodged them. Only Kuro failed to do so and Sasuke had jumped before her and set the tree ablaze before Ryuu knock it back with a powerful strike of his sword.

As the trees began to stop falling, all of their eyes were fixed on the frightening sight before them as the red chakra became flames. The heat had begun to turn any and all sand, except surprisingly the sand part of Shukaku, to ashes. It was so hot that the six gennin began sweating uncontrollably.

But they couldn't turn their attention away or move to get away from the heat. They stated glued to their spot as they watched in morbid fashion as the form of a fox began to from the ashes that had been created from the hellish flames.

Then as the flames began to die, a lone figure stood before them. It was that of the nine tailed fox and it was gazing towards its prey with blood thirsty eyes.

* * *

Orochimaru was not happy. Everything had seemed to go as planned and he had managed to keep the other two Kages out of the fight. But then his idiotic subordinate had to challenge the new Mizukage and she literally boiled him alive despite being behind the barrier.

So that let in E, who he did not want to fight. Even if he had all the jutsu in the world, this was one man he just didn't want to fight! The damn bastard was pretty much a hand-to-hand combat expert that only used jutsu to complement his already insane strength and speed not to mention he possessed a large quantity of chakra that was comparable to how much the one tail bijuu possessed..

His old sensei was there too and he had almost forgotten how good the old fart was in his prime. While he was no where near his old strength, he was still quite capable and that damn Enma nearly ripped his arm off! Oh, not to mention he knew all of his tendencies and was able to counter most of them.

And he couldn't forget Mei. No, he couldn't forget about her. She was fucking everything up! First with the barrier, she then made him unable to wield Kusanagi as she doused it was boiling lava making it so hot he couldn't hold the damn thing. And every time he seemed to get knocked down, he had to avoid getting his ass burned alive as there was now lava and acidic fumes all over the place!

Oh, but that wasn't the worst of it. He had managed to use his special summoning to bring back the dead Hokage's to help him fight, as he really needed them now. But as soon as the coffins were in view... They were instantly turned to ashes as lava rain down like a fucking nightmare and the while he could hear an angel chorus chanting 'DIE!'.

He was just tempted to scream out 'LAVA, SNAKE! LAVA!' to make sure he remembered there was lava covering half a damn acre of the battle field, which happened to be most of the battle ground. The only good news was that she finally seemed to be running low on chakra... But so was he!

Of course, to his distaste, both the Hokage and Raikage seemed to be fine in that department. So, he was pretty much screwed. Even escaping didn't look too good for him as his subordinates had either been captured or killed and who knew where Kabuto was? Probably jacking off as he laughed at his scrawny ass was being burnt to death!

But there was finally a shinning beckon that nearly made him scream 'HALLELUIAH!' and proclaim there was a God somewhere up there that did care for all his creations. Gaara had finally released the one tailed beast and was ready to rumble towards the village.

Sure, there was no way the red head could win now as the nine, eight and two tail vessels were all in Konoha at the moment. But there was at least a chance it could take everyone's attention off him so he could flee! So he began to pray to the God looking after him that this would happen and he promised to never touch little boy's again. ...For at least a couple of weeks.

Shukaku's presence indeed caught all three of the Kage's attentions, but it was E that brought his attention back onto Orochimaru. "Hmp, don't think that demon will get you anywhere. It won't be long till he is downed by Kirabi, Naruto or Yugito. Hell, maybe Jiraiya will appear and take him down as that boy can't unleash his demon's full power."

"Ah, that's right. In order to do so, the one tail vessel must completely lose his mind. That makes things easier for us." Mei commented with a smile before blowing a kiss towards Orochimaru. "Now, how do you want him? Rare, medium or well-done."

"Well-done." Sarutobi responded with a smirk as he held Enma, now turned into a staff, in his hands. Sure, it pained him to see his student look so miserable but he had brought this upon himself.

But soon as he answered and a dark dread washed over all of them. While they were all easily capable of dealing with such raw hatred, each and everyone knew that this was yet another bijuu's powers being released. But only one demon held this much rage.

"FUCK! I told him not to release more then six!" E screamed out as he whirled around to see the red flames blaze before Shukaku before a fox took their place.

He wasn't the only one that had immediately turned to the fox. Every single person in Konoha, whether they happened to be a Konoha shinobi or otherwise, turned to see the great beast that had devastated the villages thirteen years before come back from the flames.

The only one that wasn't stuck in place happened to be Orochimaru. He took this as his big break and made a mad dash. If he got far enough away from them, they couldn't follow him once he began to start flickering away.

Suddenly, he felt himself stop as a cold edge forced its way through his throat. Blood began to seep out of from the wound as an elongated katana pierced his neck. However, Orochimaru's eyes were widened in fright as he looked into yellow eyes with a dilated pupil before everything began to go dark.

Blue flames danced around the person like chakra before with one tug, the snake sannin's head fell to the ground. Her golden haired swayed behind her as she looked down at the man with no remorse before he eyes turned to battle about to unfold. She needed to be ready to act.

After all, she couldn't let her little brother lose control like he had that one day...

* * *

Gaara was frozen in fear. There was no way... It couldn't be... Uzumaki was demon vessel too?

Then why was he protecting everyone like that? Why did not strike fear into every like he did? Why was everything so different between them? They had the same fate, so why weren't they the same?

"No... No. NO! STAY AWAY FROM ME!" Gaara screamed as the fox began to creep towards him. It no longer mattered that he could give control to the one tail beast. All he wanted to do was escape from this gut wrenching feeling.

It felt as if all the hatred in the world was pouring onto him and every single person's rage felt like him ripping someone apart with his sand. Was this what he was doing to all those people he killed? It was a horrid feeling... One that made him want to scream his heart out... And the pain hadn't even begun.

He had become so worked up, he didn't notice how tired he was becoming. The fear that looking into the fox's eyes made it where he couldn't even sense the darkness overcoming him. His world became darkness and with that, he faded on allowing his demon to take over

The fox growled as its crimson eyes flared with raw hatred. Every single fur stood up on end as it crouched before the fox demon lunged towards Shukaku, roaring as it was prepared to make its kill.

This was the scene Shukaku was treated to as he finally took control. For one of the few times, he was not glad to be free. In fact, he wanted his vessel to be awake right now. It was save him from some very severe pain, even if this body was made of sand! It wasn't like that was going to save his ass from being murdered.

Purely for defense, Shukaku took a deep breath before belching out a bullet of concentrated wind to knock the kitsune back. Knocked back from the bullet, Kyuubi's roared echoed through the village of Konoha before its nine tails leveled the forest behind it.

"What the... HOW DID WE GET HERE?" Ryuu yelled out in a panic, seeing the trees where they had been standing only moment before being completely leveled.

"Shut up." Yugito growled out as blue flames raged across her body and slowly began to take the form of a cat. "You kids get out of here. If this battle gets out of hand, Kirabi and I will deal with it. Now get the fuck out of here!"

Not even having sensed Kirabi had arrived, as she knew he was there, Yugito simply began to walk towards the battle as her demon's chakra burned around her.

Kirabi grimaced at the sight before him, but he knew this was a time he would have to break his brother's rule. He would have to use eight tails if Naruto did not calm down from his rage. Glad the gennin knew better then to stick around, he followed Yugito's lead as Hachibi's chakra began to surround his form.

Roaring once more, Kyuubi raced towards Shukaku becoming a literal blur. There was no time for the sand demon to even counter as the fox bit down on its spine and its claws began to tear into his backside.

Yelling in pain, Shukaku began slamming his tail into the fox's head repeatedly before it was suddenly cut down as one of Kyuubi's tails sliced clean through it. If it wasn't for his body being made of sand, that would have been extremely painful instead of just a dull pang. That was the only good thing.

Knowing it had to get Kyuubi off, Shukaku leapt into the air as high as he could, nearly two-hundred meters into the air, before fall back and landing on the fox.

The earth shook as the titans hit the ground leaving an enormous crater. Trees nearby fell as even the buildings in Konoha, clearly a few miles away swayed from the impact.

But it didn't even seem to faze the fox as its fang dug in deeper before with a violent rip it took a clean chunk out of the sand demon's spinal cord. Even if its body was made of sand, the spinal column was the main support beam for his massive frame. There wasn't a way he was getting back up. The fox now could take his time.

Indeed that was what Kyuubi seemed to be doing as in removed itself from underneath the raccoon demon. It analyzed its prey, looking for the spot that it could instantly take the demon's life away and quickly found Gaara. Still, he had to make sure Shukaku couldn't rebuild from his injury.

The heat around the fox began to build before the fox's opened its mouth. Blue flames began to build at the end of the muzzle, gathering into a giant ball of pure super-heated fire. Placing a paw on Shukaku's throat, Kyuubi spewed the flames onto the rest of its body from the neck down, immediately incinerating the sand, turning it to ashes.

Seeing that its work was done, the fox turned to the head before a voice yelled out and caught his attention. "THAT IS ENOUGH!"

Immediately turning towards the origin of the voice, Kyuubi growled as he saw Yugito walking towards him with blue fire shimmering around her. It noticed Kirabi was there as well, but his attention was solely on the cat vessel. "TRANSFORM BACK! THIS FIGHT IS OVER!"

Growling, Kyuubi wasn't going to listen to her and finish Gaara off when she yelled out once more. "NARUTO! THIS ISN'T WHAT RIKA WANTED!"

That stopped the fox's movement as it mouth had neared Gaara and was ready to finish the red head off, who had reawaken from the drool and heat. To say he was terrified beyond comprehension was quite accurate as about to become a snack sized lunch wasn't a very pleasant way to wake up.

Backing away from Gaara, the fox howled one last time before the body literally turned into ash before exploding. The entire area was filled with smog cause of the ash blocking out anyone's vision and covering them in soot.

But as the ash began to settle down, Kirabi and Yugito saw Naruto passed out on the ash covered ground. Letting her flames around her settle, Yugito closed her eyes before Kirabi lifted Naruto onto his shoulder before turning to Yugito. "I'll take him to the hospital... You take care of things here."

Nodding, Yugito watched Kirabi as he disappeared with Naruto before he gazed turned to Gaara. She wouldn't kill him, he had gone through too much. But, she would have a talk with him. Maybe after this, she could get him to turn a new leaf and change for the better.

...That was something Naruto could have done in the past.

* * *

**A/N**: Well that was the sixth chapter. The next update will be in two weeks as I'm still struggling to write any story for an elongated amount of time.

This chapter is pretty straight forward but if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask me. I hope you enjoyed it and stay tuned for the next installment.

Peace Out.


	7. Chapter 7

I Do Not Own Naruto

* * *

Yawning as he stretched his arms, Omoi slowly exited his tent to see Naruto watching over camp. Not caring as he had to take care of his business, he went into the forest.

Once he was finished, he yawned once more before returning to the camp site to see Naruto sitting in the same exact position. Raising his eyebrow, knowing Naruto always had difficulty staying still for very long, especially in the same position. So either he was asleep or...

"Oh no! Kirabi, Naruto has taken off again!" Omoi yelled out before dispelling the clone by passing his hand through it to make sure it wasn't Naruto.

Kirabi shot out of his tent before groaning loudly as he saw Omoi dispel Naruto's clone. "Mother f... Can that boy not wander off for one damn mission?"

"Um, not wanting to be a nag or anything, but can you? You almost always seem to disappear right before the mission is over and we're back home." Omoi responded with a frown as he always was stuck with the paperwork whether it was Karui, Samui or Naruto as his team mates. They never did them!

Doing his best not to reach out and crush his student's head, Kirabi groaned as he finally beginning to realize what his brother felt like all those times he just wandered off. Seeing Karui exit her tent, giving both Omoi and Kirabi glares for waking her but she mostly blamed Naruto.

"Fuck... Alright, we'll search the area. I doubt he's close by, so if you don't find him in ten minutes report back here. We'll head home and tell my brother... And Yugito." He said at the end, probably having a good idea that she was the reason for his wandering the way she had been treating him recently.

Groaning, Karui took off down the road while Omoi headed into the forest. Kirabi simply sighed before dashing away from his students. 'Damn brat... Learning from me is teaching me a lesson!'

* * *

Humming as he walked through the swampy forests of the Wave, Naruto sighed in content. He didn't know why, but he felt at home here. Sure the tree and scenery were creepy in a way, but it still comforted him.

Naruto really didn't want to go home right now. This was their forth mission out of the village and he didn't want to go home again. Yugito had been a living nightmare as she constantly yelled at him for no real reason, only stopping when Shi intervened.

Yawning as he was slightly tired, Naruto was thinking about taking a rest before thinking better of it. While he knew Kirabi wouldn't search too quickly and instead make a report to his brother and have a search team sent after him. They would quickly find him as Shi was always in the group and knew where he liked to go.

The problem would be if Yugito was part of the search team. If she was, he wouldn't want to go back with them the way she had been treating him. He rather have someone knock him out and drag him back home then stay awake and deal with her issues at the moment.

Catching movement in the bushes, Naruto nearly panicked. There was no way they had caught up to him so quickly! He left soon as his sensei's shift ended knowing Kirabi was a very light sleeper and wouldn't be caught of guard if someone was to attack. There was no way they could catch him in such a time.

Sighing in relief as it wasn't them but a little girl, Naruto was about to take his attention away when three realities hit him. Why was a small child, probably no older then four, in the forest? Two, why was the girl screaming at the top of her lungs? And finally, why hadn't he heard her before now?

Without wasting a second, he was besides the girl and gathered her into his arms. "Shush, it's okay. Nothing is going to get you..."

"Let go of the girl, boy." A gruff voice stated near him, making him look towards it.

There was no doubt he was a ninja, if his Rock head band didn't give it away. He was very tall, almost seven feet, and he was very, very fat. The fact that he fit into his jounin flak jacket was a miracle. There was no doubt this guy was a jounin, but he really wasn't afraid.

"Of what importance is such a small girl? I see nothing that would warrant a ninja chasing after her." Naruto commented as he lifted the girl, who was holding onto him with dear life, onto his left shoulder.

Narrowing his eyes, noticing the boy was a Cloud ninja, the rock jounin thought about his options. If he did anything to this kid, it could cause dire consequences and due to the fact that his village had just almost regained the strength they possessed before the war with Konoha, they really weren't ready to fight the Cloud yet. Over each war, they never disarmed and kept up their strength which made them a formidable threat.

Trying to end this diplomatically, hoping the boy would see his way, he choice his words carefully. "The girl... happens to be a daughter of missing ninja of ours... that has a blood line. We wish for it to be returned to our village, just like your village would if a similar problem."

Raising his eyebrows, he could see no such thing that would indicate that she had a blood line. Then again, many didn't have such... Wait, were there mouths on her hands?

"Well, that's creepy." Naruto murmured before shaking his head and shrugging at the man. "I really don't care. There is no need to terrorize such a beautiful young girl. So you can go tell the Tsuchikage you failed. Don't worry; I'll take care of her."

Cursing as the boy didn't care he tried lunging at him to steal the girl before a sudden piercing pain filled his chest as a blade made of lighting ripped out. Falling to his knees as he tried to cover the wound, fear began to overtake him as he looked at the boy. He had become positively feral and was covered in crimson chakra.

"DON'T! I CAN KILL YOU EASILY! This girl belongs to me now, so get lost scum!" Naruto shouted as Kyuubi's chakra pumped into his body.

While the jounin didn't want to go back and tell the others he had failed, he didn't want to stick around and die! This kid was a demon vessel; they needed the right people to take that down even if he was a gennin!

Watching the fat lard run off as Kyuubi's chakra faded away, Naruto sighed before patting the girl on the back. "Don't worry. I'll take good care of you for now. Can you take me to your home? I'm sure your mommy and daddy miss you very much."

The girl simply shook her head, her face full of terror yet it hadn't come from his display. Frowning, he had a good feeling they had killed her parents, or at least her mother. If her father was a missing ninja, he doubted she ever really knew him as staying behind would only cause problems for his family.

Sighing, he decided to head to the closest village. For now, he would be her guardian.

* * *

As the sun began to rise on a new day, Naruto sighed as he looked out the window in the hotel he spent the night in. Soon as he rented the room, the girl fell asleep immediately. That, however, made it easier for to get a few things for.

Obviously one was new wardrobe as he clothes were tattered and barely acceptable. Food was also going to be a necessity and he couldn't go around killing animals and cooking them in front of her. That would more then likely freak the girl out after what she had seen.

However, a doctor was something this village didn't have as he had been killed months ago before the cruel dictator of their lands, Gato, was murdered. Funny enough, it was he that murdered him as it was his teams mission to find out why their trade with the Wave had seize of the last few months. The pig had gotten sloppy and forgot the Cloud and Mist were big players for keeping the Wave's freedom due to its trade routes.

Sighing again, Naruto couldn't help smile a little. It could have been worse. He could be stuck in the same room with Nibi.

"**That would be nightmare... An absolutely terrifying nightmare.**" Kyuubi shivered as he heard his thought. Then the next image he caught from his vessel was Nibi in his cage. "**DAMMIT! Don't joke about things like that! She is just a bitch, which by the way you are finding out!**"

Feeling even better at his demon's expense, Naruto's gaze turned to the young girl as she began to fidget in her bed. No doubt another nightmare as she had been doing so all evening, waking him up in the process.

He didn't mind too much. He had decided he was going to take care of her for a while and when they reached the village, he was sure someone would love to adopt her. Besides blood lines were rare back home so there was no doubt there would be a line of families wanting to adopt her.

Sitting on the bed right besides her, he gently tapped her on the shoulder before nudging her away. "Hey there, are you okay? Did you have another bad dream?"

Slowly sitting up, she noticed the man that had picked her up was looking at her. His kind eyes made her feel a little safe, but what if the bad mean where...

Surprised as she latched onto her arm, Naruto wasn't sure what to think. If he had to guess, the events probably left a scar on her mind and she would be forever traumatized by it. Of course she would need professional help to overcome that, but he could help in the process.

Patting her back softly before running his hand through her hair, he lightly hugged her. "It is going to be alright little one. Those bad men won't hurt you again."

Even after he had told that to her a few times, she didn't seemed to let go of his arm. That would cause a problem if she didn't move as he would need it sooner or later. Figuring she was hungry, he decided to see if that would entice her and get her to free his arm.

"Hey, are you hungry?" Getting no response, Naruto frowned as he knew she had to be. A young kid could not go without a meal for very long. "I got some ramen if you like."

He would have liked to give her more, but that was all they sold here. Their economy hadn't recovered yet for them to start affording more expensive items to sell, so it would be a while before it was better to shop here.

Finally after what seemed to be hours, only five minutes in reality as Naruto had a very time sitting still for long, the girl nodded before releasing his arm before wiping the tears from her eyes away.

Smiling at her, trying to cheer her up, Naruto got up before he started working on preparing the ramen. It wasn't long, seeing as it only took a few minutes to get boiling water and then pouring that into the cup of ramen and waiting a few more minutes.

As he did, he used a packet of water flavoring he found at the same shop. He wasn't sure what it was, but it said it was fruit punch flavor so he doubted it would be too bad. Giving the girl the drink, he quickly walked over and gathered the ramen and set it at the night table.

Naruto was surprised how quickly she put the food down and wondered if she was still hungry. He knew she was still thirty as she was already on her third glass of the stuff. Still, she was a little girl and had her limits before looking around. "Um... w'ere's t'e bat'room?"

Chuckling a little as she apparently didn't know how to pronounce the letter H very well, Naruto shook his head before pointing over to the door next to the bed. "Right there, cutie. There is a pair of clothes in there for you to change in after you get cleaned up."

Seeing the girl nod and struggle to get off the bed, Naruto chuckled again before he went to make himself a bowl of ramen. It smelled pretty good, so he would have some as he never had the stuff before.

Right as the girl entered the bathroom, Naruto nearly slapped himself over the head. Speaking loud enough so he knew she could hear him, he asked the question he forgot to ask. "Hey, what's your name? I can't call you cutie all the time!"

"Rika t'e 'ame!" The girl responded before the obvious sound of one doing their business was heard.

Wishing he hadn't heard that, Naruto grimaced before almost immediately forgetting as he purposely put his hand on the burner to burn the memory out of his mind.

Shaking his hand a little, he began to slowly eat the noodles. They weren't too bad and the seasonings were pretty good. Not bad food for a few cents that probably didn't have many nutritional benefits to it. But overall, not a bad deal. He might being able save money by buying some of this instead of his normal meals.

Finishing the cup of ramen, Naruto contently sighed before he heard Rika's voice over the now running bath water. "Ah help me! I don't k'ow how to tur' t'e wa'er off!"

Naruto froze as he heard her. Oh, that was not going to be something he was looking forward to. Look like his hand was going to find its way to the burner again...

* * *

Days had gone by and Naruto had taken Rika traveling with him, town to town as he didn't want the girl to sleep in the dirt. Sure, he could give her his tent, but then he wouldn't have one. It was just easier to go town to town and rent a hotel for the night.

Today they had made it into a small town, but one filled with shops with many sorts of items. Anything from cute pony dolls to ninja weaponry could be found there. So neither was wasting the opportunity to do so.

Naruto easily got his shopping done, a set of daggers and a few explosive and flash tags were about all he needed. Now it was onto what Rika wanted, which just seemed to be window shopping. Of course he did get her a teddy bear and a novelty plushy of a fox, that she nearly squeezed to death and mortified Kyuubi in the process.

'See fox, she's not so bad.' Naruto hummed as he watched Rika dance and twirl as if all her cares in the world were gone. Of course he knew better then that, she was just trying to wear herself out so when she fell asleep she wouldn't dream of her mother's death.

That much he had gotten out of her, as he had to know what happened so he could deal with it properly. While nowhere near an expert on things like this, he knew how to handle emotions so he was able to deal with her emotional outbreaks every now and then, which didn't take much to set off.

"**Whatever. You're getting too passive with her around and that's not good. You're losing your killing edge.**" Kyuubi reprimanded, not liking that his vessel was becoming too soft and letting things he normally wouldn't let go unnoticed go unnoticed.

Rolling his eyes and laughing as she began to dance with the small fox plushy, Naruto wiped a tear from his eye. 'Oh come one now. You have to admit she is becoming endearing to you to.'

Not answering for a moment, Naruto figured that Kyuubi didn't want to admit it and went onto his business. It wasn't his fault the fox had issues, well he did to but that was a totally different problem, and couldn't admit them.

However, the blonde was surprised when Kyuubi spoke just as they reached the end of town. "**Maybe, but it is only because you are accepting her as yours. We are one, so in essence she is my kit too.**"

'See, was that so hard to admit.' Naruto attempted to tease the fox, something he hadn't done before as the fox would have never allowed him to get away with such an action.

Kyuubi, however, simply snarled. "**You would do to listen, boy! Just because you are supplanting yourself as her father, you cannot lose your viciousness! Become as tender as you want to her, but anything that threatens her you crush! You cannot relax for your kit's sake, not a second or you will lose her!**"

Almost faltering and losing his balance, Naruto recovered quickly. He was surprised how passionate Kyuubi was about the subject. Maybe he had a child and just maybe, he had lost it?

Shaking his head, he kept his sight on Rika for a moment longer before calling out to her as he stopped. "No, not that way. We're heading to the Cloud, so we need to be heading north."

"Oh, okay big brot'er! Wai' for me!" Rika called out as she rushed over to Naruto before taking his hand.

Looking down at the girl, Naruto smiled brightly before they took the road to the north. He knew despite everything that happened this girl was genuinely happy to be with him. It was hard to believe, but maybe she actually thought that he was her dad or maybe he really was her big brother.

He shook his head as he knew that wasn't the reason. She had become so attached to him because she had to as he was her only life line. With him, her life would very much extraordinarily miserable and at least on a subconscious level she knew that. But in her mind, the only thing that mattered now that her big brother was there.

Smiling, Naruto tightened his free hand into his fist. His eyes nearly burned crimson as he radiated and aura of malice around him, however, keeping it from being noticed by Rika. Instead, she noticed the slight aura of calmness and caring that always did as he radiated that to keep her from becoming afraid.

'You are right, fox. I will not let anything happen to her. I doubt she's like a daughter to me, but close enough. Hell, I doubt I'll have any child in my life time, being what we are. So I won't let this chance go by.' Naruto stated determined as he looked on at everyone that was giving him frightful looks as they made their way out.

At this, Kyuubi smirked. This was more like how a fox took care of their young.

* * *

"I'm surprised. I didn't think she would be able to take camping out doors." Naruto commented more to Kyuubi then anyone. He wasn't afraid of anyone thinking he was crazy here, so it was safe to do.

"**She's a tough little sprite, I'll give her that. Two weeks after watching her own family be killed before her, she is still going strong. Boy, you couldn't find a better kit to raise. I doubt you could sire one like her.**" Kyuubi responded as he watched through his vessel's eyes.

Now he didn't like getting attached, especially to humans, but this case could be called an exception to the rule. He was one with the boy and there was nothing that could be done to change that. So, he would allow the luxury of being slightly proud of the girl. After all, she was their daughter, that much had already been decided.

Simply nodding as he brushed his hand through her hair, seeing that she her head was gently resting on his lap. Normally this would bother him, but he wasn't going to sleep soon and for once he wasn't anxious and wanted to move around. He oddly felt like sitting like this all night just not to bother her.

"Hm, maybe this is how Yugito felt when she first saw me?" Naruto wondered as he always had felt like he had a similar connection with her. It was deeper then a brother-sister relationship and more like a parent-child kinship, except for the age difference.

"**Possibly, but you are not to do what she has been doing to you. I would find a way out of here and kill you myself if you did.**" Kyuubi sternly warned his vessel. He knew he probably couldn't, but he would find a way.

Nodding as he wished nothing of the sort on the girl sleeping in his lap, Naruto's hand quickly found its way to his blade as he sensed someone nearing them. Whoever it happened to be was very strong. His aura was beyond almost everyone's he knew outside of E, Kirabi and maybe Yugito. And the worse thing was now he could see a silhouette and what that person was wearing.

It was a black cloak with red clouds scattered across it.

'Akatsuki? What the... They shouldn't be coming for me yet!' Naruto mentally yelled in alarm having been informed of the organization and its purpose as soon as he became a ninja.

However, the person before him was alone and Akatsuki worked in pairs to capture a demon vessel. Also, he was the only one that knew who was assigned to capture him. And this person obviously was not Uchiha Itachi or Hoshigaki Kisame.

Still staying on alert, he took in more of his appearance and noted that he had a slashed Rock head band. He had a similar face to the girl and similar texture of hair, however hers was black. However, the thing that quickly became apparent was his hands. They had small mouths on them, just as Rika did.

'Her father... Is a missing ninja that happens to be part of the Akatsuki? What are the fucking odds of that?' Naruto screamed in his mind, cursing his own amazing luck for this adventure he was to venture upon.

But as the Akatsuki member neared him, he simply stopped as he looked at the girl sleeping in his lap. "I see... I must thank you, Uzumaki. You have sparred me the pain of losing her."

Naruto was put on edge even more so now the damn guy knew his name. That was just great, the entire organization knew of him. That was going to make things very interesting if he could get out of tonight alive. The alive part was sounding very difficult to achieve as his odds against an S-rank missing ninja even with Kyuubi were low.

"Don't worry; I am not here to capture you... More to thank you. I am Deidara and as you probably figured out due to our hands, she happens to be my daughter." The Akatsuki member stated be kneeling down and gazing at Rika through the fire.

Still not trusting the man very much, mainly because of the group he was apart of, Naruto didn't release his grip on his blade. "Why are you here? I doubt you would come for your daughter as a missing ninja's life is full of peril, a life not fit for raising a child much less a young girl."

Deidara nodded as that was too true. Not going to lie, the odd-handed man stood up. "I am suppose to capture you seeing that you are alone and not much of a threat now. ...But, I will not so consider this payment for saving my daughter. Next time, I will spare you no quarter."

Before Naruto could say anything, an electrified sword pierced through the ground just inches from the fire. Deidara had aptly dodge and smirked. "Good thing these guys showed up. I can say it became too risky against three vessels. ...But be warned, Uzumaki. Itachi is remorseless... He will take you in if you aren't careful."

In a flicker, Deidara disappeared leaving Naruto unsure what just happened. However, what he was sure was that Kirabi and Yugito were among those that had just 'forced' Deidara to retreat.

The first to arrive was Shi, his katana having been the one thrown. His eyes turned to Naruto, both with anger and relief clearly visible. He wasn't sure which was more predominate, mainly because he wasn't sure as well. Shi both wanted to strangle Naruto for worrying them and hug him as he was unharmed.

However, that was not the case as Yugito arrived her face visibly angered. "You... You better have a good explanation for this or I'll..."

"Keep your voice down!" Naruto hissed as Rika shifted in his lap, almost seeming like she would wake up but falling back asleep as she locked onto Naruto's leg.

Shi simply gave Naruto a dumbfounded look as Yugito's eyes widened as she looked at the young girl's face before looking back at Naruto and then back to her face. Kirabi lightly groaned as this reminded him a little of Yugito stealing Naruto from Kakashi when she first saw him. "Please tell me you didn't take her from anyone..."

"Her family was murdered... And she found me." Naruto growled as his protective instincts began to kick in. He wasn't sure why, but it probably was due to being more in touch with his animalistic side as all demon vessels were.

Sitting down, Shi scratched his head as Karui and Omoi finally caught up to three, being left in the dust when they had noticed Deidara. They would have said something, but Yugito's look said everything and they didn't say a word as they noticed the young girl.

"That would explain why you weren't back the next day, unlike Kirabi who takes a week at a time off after a mission." Shi stated before glaring at the Raikage's brother. He was the source of a lot of his trouble as well. Naruto was another quarter of it while Yugito was half it. His sister was just a problem not matter what she did.

Flicking Shi off for his insult, knowing he knew very well he went to see his musical teacher in the mountains nearby, Kirabi turned to Naruto before looking at the girl. "So she have a name or are you just calling her cutie?"

"Rika." Naruto responded as his hands found their way to her hair as he started combing through it, very much like Yugito use to do to him when he was younger.

Frowning as he saw this, Shi glared at Yugito, who was finally over her shock and had simply sat down and look over at Naruto across the fire. There was no other obvious symptom of Yugito's triad against Naruto of lately then his ginger care to a girl he probably been taking care of the two weeks he had been gone.

"Well, I guess we'll be spending the night here. Shi, you are first watch. We'll head back tomorrow at a pace the girl can keep up at." Yugito ordered as she laid out a sleeping bag before lying down and turning away from the fire.

Nodding as he had planned on taking first shift anyways, Shi stood up before he took a look around before his gaze landed back onto Naruto and Rika.

Maybe it would be for the best. Yugito had drastically calmed down after Naruto had been introduced into her life, so maybe the same would happen to him.

* * *

As morning came and went by, the small group was making good time as Naruto was letting Rika have a piggyback ride, Shi holding his sword for him. They were still traveling at a sluggish pace because of her, but the Cloud wasn't too far ahead of them now. It was only just on the other side of the behemoth of a mountain before them.

Everyone, however, was highly entertained with the girl. Even Yugito to an extent as her cold demeanor towards Naruto had dropped considerably from the night before. Perhaps it was because of Rika or something else, but it was quite welcome.

"So, what's that then?" Yugito pointed out to a simple bird. She of course knew what kind of bird it was, but that wasn't the objective. It was seeing what Rika knew.

"A robin." Rika answered with a giggle in her voice, liking this game so far. Sure, big brother played games with her but this game was new so therefore fun.

Looking slightly surprised at her answer, Yugito was about to point at another bird species when Omoi beat her to it. "What is that bird then, Rika?"

Seeing the bird flying above the, Rika frowned in concentration as she couldn't really see the bird well. But sure enough, with a few better details sure knew what it was. "A vul'ure."

"Right... Wait, why is circling around us?" Omoi responded with a grin before he faked a false panic as he looked up at the said bird and motions to shoo it away.

Knocking him upside the head, seeing Rika was somewhat frightened, Karui sighed before looking for something that would test the little girl's knowledge. Seeing a small patch of orange with a black stripe, she grinned. "Alright, can you tell me what that animal is over there?"

Rika looked towards were Karui pointed. Expecting to hear tiger as she was sure she was sure, she did not expect her next answer. "'Hat's a man in a mask."

Everyone froze as they heard that. There was no way in the world that was possible. No one had sensed a thing. However, in the next moment everyone was knocked to their feet as Rika was taken from Naruto's shoulders.

Immediately jumping up, Naruto snarled as the man simply held Rika by the scuff of her neck. Hearing the girl screaming, his entire body was frozen to the spot as the man in the orange masked simply waved her in front of him. "What? Aren't you going to do anything to get her back?"

Roaring, Naruto leapt towards him only to find a foot into his stomach before being driven back. He hadn't even seen the guy move, so how did he move so quickly to get from where he was to him so fast.

Standing up once more, everyone was besides him and ready to act. "My, what a powerful group you have at your back. No wonder why Deidara didn't carry out his orders last night... Or was it because this girl was his daughter?"

Naruto froze... Who was this guy and how did he know of that? Acting on pure instinct, Naruto lunged towards him again but this time he made no move to avoid him. He simply dropped Rika for a hundred of a second as Naruto went right through him as if he wasn't even there before catching her by the top of her hair.

As he skidded across the ground, his eyes widened as he had just went through the man. Looking back, he could clearly hear the man chuckle. "Do not think you have a chance against me. I am way out of any of your leagues."

"What do you want?" Yugito yelled out, demonic blue flames flared around her. She knew they were close enough to the village for the Raikage to sense them and know something was wrong. He could deal with guy as she had no doubt this guy was telling the truth about the level difference.

This only made him wave his finger at her before he drove his foot in Naruto and kicked him into her. "No, no! I can't have you calling for help. After all, it is your demons I'm after."

Both got up quickly, growling intimidating as they both became feral. Naruto was the first to react as he roared out only for the bastard to hold Rika in front of him. "Not so fast. I believe she is of some importance of you!"

"BIG BROT'ER! 'ELP! 'E'S 'URTING ME!" Rika screamed as he had yanked her by the top of her hair, instantly freezing Naruto and Kyuubi's chakra flow.

Neither was sure what to do. Anything they did just failed and if they were to use their full power they would hurt Rika in the process, more in likely killing her.

Shivering, Naruto stepped forward before kneeling down as he had to do anything. Her life was at stake, so without hesitation he could give his away. "If it our demons, fine. You can have me... Just give her back."

Looking down at the young man that had easily bowed down before him, he was ready to complete the transaction. He was only hoping to get one and if it was going to be this easy, he wouldn't let that stop him.

However, E choose to make his presence know at that time as he burst onto the scene, having felt the monster cat's chakra before feeling a surge of the fox's. "WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?"

Cursing as there was no way he would get away from here cleanly with the transaction, he had to do what he could do.

Naruto's blood drained from his face as he could tell what the man before him was going to do. "Oh well, now my plan is ruined. This runt is worthless now."

With a quick yank, everyone heard the snap and saw Rika's eyes suddenly dull. Every single one knew what happened and knew the girl was dead. There was no way to survive a neck being snapped like that. And to finalize it, he had simply tossed her away.

Everything began to crash down around Naruto.

There was no way... Not after what he had done for her. He had practically adopted her and took her under his wing! She had become his entire world in the two weeks he knew her! He took care of her, fed her, cleaned her, told her stories, loved her! He had accepted her as his own having understood his chances were slim to have a child! And just like that... It was all over?

How dare he take her away from him!

The demon fox within him was fairing no better. His rage grew and grew. This man took away their kit! An one out of a million, diamond in the rough kit! One that would have grown to be a gorgeous, powerful woman like few others. One that had allowed him to feel like he was a father again... Only to lose yet another!

How dare he take her away from him!

Crimson chakra snapped around Naruto in a powerful blaze of fury, tearing the landscape around him to shreds forcing everyone to jump away from him. Standing as the ground tore away at itself and rose into the air, Naruto's crimson eyes shone furiously at the man before him before roaring as the chakra around him exploded.

But it wasn't just as small explosion or even a good sized eruption of chakra. It was a massive burst of burning hot chakra with the dread of oncoming doom stretching for miles. While the radius was only twenty-five meters all around where Naruto was, it felt much larger as the aura around him felt like it was death itself.

Then the chakra began to literally changed and turn into flames, burning everything near it and turning it instantaneously into ashes. Those ashes that were made were drawn into the blaze and began to form into a shape.

Looking on from a distance, simply teleporting away. The man was surprised from what he saw. "That was unexpected. I wouldn't have thought he would use everything like that. ...Hm, I could but I better wait. I'll let this eat him for a while."

With that, he was gone with a blur of his mask, simply vanishing and leaving no trace he was there.

As the blaze was burning furiously before them, the Raikage simply looked back at Yugito. "What is going on here? Why is Naruto going berserk like this?"

Yugito was frozen in place and was unable to answer from the sheer magnitude of the power Naruto had drawn from the fox. Had he called all nine tails?

"The girl... Naruto picked her up... She was orphaned and he saved her life... He must have become very attached to her on his way back here." Shi responded, finding it hard to breathe as he held Rika's small frame cradled in his arms. There was nothing he could do, she was gone.

Cursing, E looked on as he pulled off his Kage hat and robe as he looked to the furious flames before him. He knew this would be rough.

Naruto screamed out his heart as the pain filled it was far too much to bear. The flames danced violently around him but not harming a hair on his body as the ash surrounded him and began to mold into flesh and bones, taking care to protect him. But his screaming did not stop.

It simply turned into bone chilling roars as he had fully transformed, using every ounce of chakra Kyuubi possessed.

And then...

He awoke.

* * *

**A/N**: Sorry this took a little more time then I thought to update even if it was ready to go. I was trying to finish the twelfth chapter before I put this one out but once again I'm struggling to write and that chapter has just been giving me fits for the last month.

As you can probably tell this is a flashback chapter to dive a little into Naruto's past and explain why hearing Rika's name sent him over the line and drew upon the ninth tail. I wanted to get deeper into it but this chapter is close enough to perfect, aside from a few mistakes that I'm sure will still make it in.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and if you have any questions or something to say drop a review and I'll get back to you. Peace Out.


	8. Chapter 8

I Do Not Own Naruto

* * *

The room he was in was very cold, almost lifeless. The constant beeping and the light slowly piercing into the room was he needed to know where he was. He was in a hospital room, more likely a hospital room in Konoha.

That dream… Had haunted him every time he slept for great lengths at a time. That was why he was happier to be on missions so he would have to be woken at night from his shifts. At home, he simply trained as hard as he could for the day before arriving at the graveyard, passing out after many apologizes to Rika and his parents.

The village took no damage from his transformation as he didn't bother with it. He hunted and chased the killer for miles before he could hold the form no longer. It would have held longer, but the attacks from the Raikage and Kirabi drained him faster and he was offering no resistances to their attacks. They weren't the ones he was after.

His cold demeanor truly began after that. Sure, it had been building thanks to Yugito but he doubted he would have ever reached the point he did so quickly if it wasn't for Rika's death. The only bright side was Yugito treated him like she had before the months following before slowly reverting to her bitchiness once more.

Slowly sitting up, Naruto gazed out of the window before grabbing the wires they had attached to him for monitoring. He needed nothing of the sort. He was fine; Kyuubi had made sure of that.

Noting that he was still in his tattered clothes, Naruto sighed as he hadn't brought another coat so he wouldn't be able to switch for a while. And he went through his shirts on a daily basis, somehow his coat not being affected in the process.

Getting up, he found all of his weapons were in the cupboard except his sword and case, which was leaning against it. Glad that his straps weren't destroyed, he slipped it on before the door opened revealing a nurse with a clipboard. "Hey, you aren't supposed to leave yet!"

"I'm perfectly fine now. Thanks for the care, but I must be off now. Wouldn't want to take time away from those that need the care more then me." Naruto responded, smiling brightly as she was very cute and awfully young to be a full-time nurse.

Before she could say another word, the entire floor shook. Naruto's face fell, knowing there was only one person he knew that was that impulsive and as the ground shook again, he bolted for the window.

To his misfortune, Shi was waiting for him and simply close lined him back into the room. "Sorry Naruto, but you have to deal with disobeying orders."

"Fuck you! You just want to see me die!" Naruto screamed at him, punching, kicking, clawing and biting his way to freedom as he did not want to face E when he was in a bad mood. In fact, no one did. There wasn't one person in the village that could say they could deal with it.

Shi had begun to wish he had let Naruto go as the boy thrashed around, causing plenty damage along with literally biting his forearm. If he didn't know better, he actually would have believed that Naruto was really a fox cornered.

The very next moment, the nurse screamed and ran off as E literally burst through the wall, making both Darui and Yugito sweat drop as they looked at him.

"You know, there was a door right there? You could have just asked the nurse nicely for her to move?" Yugito commented with a little annoyance as she walked over to the door and pointed at it to make a point.

E simply ignored her as he didn't have the time to bother with a door. Besides, breaking through a wall definitely brought the attention onto him as it should be. He was the strongest and he was damned if his ninja ever got the idea he was getting soft. "Naruto! Stop mauling Shi and stand at attention!"

Looking over and noticing that the Raikage was in the room, Naruto jumped off of Shi, who was bloody and beaten now, before standing perfectly straight with his arms at his side. He didn't move an inch, knowing E had a temper and any disrespect could set him off and could keep him here for a little while longer.

Glad that Naruto was showing no signs of disobedience, at the moment as he was much like his brother in that department, E kept his face stern before getting right into Naruto's face. "I strictly forbade you to use that stage again! You know the consequences, correct?"

"Yes, lord Raikage." Naruto responded, keeping his face straight as well if not a little down trodden. He knew the punishment quite well, so he began to mentally preparing himself for it.

While E had no intention on punishing Naruto, as he yet again had great restraint over that form and kept himself to his target, he had to get it across that his word was law. "Good, then we'll skip that. Now explain to me why you did it."

Keeping his face straight and his emotions in check, Naruto did as his boss ordered him to. "Under the circumstances, it was life and death as my entire body was being crushed by the sand. While six tails would have been enough to survive the ordeal, I doubted its ability to match the one tail state of Gaara with that size difference… So I sized up and allowed my rage to get the better of me."

Already getting all of that information from all those that had witnessed what happened, E wanted to hear it straight from the source. Backing away, he made it seem as if he was thinking before turning from Naruto. "That is acceptable, but do it again and I will have every bone in your body broken. Once you return home, you are to make a report of what happened."

"You're not punishing me?" Naruto asked apprehensively as he remembered what he had said last time if he transformed into that stage again.

"You want to be?" E asked, his eyes darting back as if daring the boy to challenge him.

Naruto shook his head, feeling both relieved and a little frightened. If he did transform again, there would be no doubt that the Raikage would carry out his threat.

Nodding, E motioned to Darui. "Bring my brother and his team. It is about the chunin exams and Naruto's mission."

Darui nodded and quickly disappeared. As he did so, Naruto was very, very surprised that the Raikage even mentioned it. He was sure he would have kept him grounded for a while, to make sure everything was quiet and to keep him under close surveillance as the Akatsuki could very well strike soon.

However, he understood quickly why he mentioned it as Mei appeared in the new entrance caused by E. "Wow, ever heard of a door? I think most of the damage Konoha will be repairing is all the walls you are tearing down."

Simply ignoring her comment as it had no basis, except for the walls he had torn down to get here having been alerted by Shi that Naruto had awoken. "Why are you here, Mei? Don't you need to get to your village?"

"Oh, have you forgotten the treaty we are suppose to be signing? Can't leave until that is done so while I'm stuck here I thought I would check in on Naruto. After all, with that outburst I must be sure the Lord of the Whirlpool is okay." Mei smiled as she answered even making E take a step back, slightly creeped out as she really hadn't stopped smiling.

Walking in the room without another word, her smile almost doubled as she noticed Naruto was awake before licking her lips. "Ah, I see you are in good health and spirit as well. That's good news; Kuro was worried sick about you."

Frowning as he heard that, Naruto wasn't sure what to do about the girl. He really didn't want to get involved with another girl for a long time, even if it would be a completely different relationship from what he had with Rika. She just wanted to be close to him, even if it was just in a friendly manner and he didn't want her to for personal reasons.

Seeing the look on his face, Mei kept her frown from showing. She didn't understand why Naruto was so adamant about not hooking up with the girl. Sure, a forced marriage normally didn't work out too well but she was sure both would try to work out everything and be pretty good with one another. Was there something she didn't know about?

"_Oh my _god…" Karui stated as she was still shocked about all the punctured walls E had ran through.

"Yes, you called?" Omoi grinned as he loved making that pun of his name, especially when someone over annunciated my as it made it sound even closer to his name.

The Raikage simply raised his eyebrow at Omoi before he bit his lip to keep from chuckling. He didn't want to give Omoi a big head, mainly because he already had one if he could compare himself to G O D. Shaking his head, he motioned for both of them to join Naruto before he turned back to them. "As I said before, based on your performances I would promote you to chunin."

With a snap of his fingers, Yugito pulled forth three white flak jackets, slightly less decorated then the normal ones jounin wore. "Omoi, you clearly showed a level head and did not over analyze the situation, which was the only thing that kept you from being promoted last time. As such, I have promoted you to chunin."

Being tossed a jacket, Omoi kept from looking ecstatic and kept up his front. "Thank you, lord Raikage."

Nodding, E's vision turned to Karui. "Karui, due to the invasion you were unable to perform in the exams. Under normal situations, I would not be able to promote you." Seeing the disappointment in her face, E kept from smiling as the girl was like a daughter as her mother did happen to be an old friend of his. "But hearing that you fought your opponent anyways, and in a live battle nonetheless, and won I believe that you are worthy of being promoted as well."

The shock was evident on Karui's face as Yugito handed her the white vest. She had been very sure she wouldn't have become a chunin thanks to the invasion. But somehow, someway she was now a chunin despite not getting her chance. "T-Thank you!"

Keeping a smile from breaking onto his face, his eyes finally fell onto Naruto. He could tell the boy probably figured his punishment would to be keeping him from reaching chunin this time. It crossed his mind a few times as it would be a good reminder not to disobey him, but he was a young boy and young boys were rebellious.

He knew that very well. Both he and Kirabi were very rebellious in their youth… The only problem was that Kirabi continued to be as rebellious as he was when he was young.

"Naruto, under the circumstances I should withhold your promotion. Despite doing what I asked for in the exams and even bringing Gaara down, you disobey my orders. That is unacceptable for a ninja to do." Kirabi stated, his face hardening as he noticed the look Mei was giving him.

"But… If it wasn't for you intervention, Shukaku would have done tremendous damage to the village as it would have taken either Kirabi or Yugito releasing their demon's power to the fullest much closer to the village and possibly causing more damage to Konoha… So for that, you will be promoted. Just keep your insubordination to a minimum. Kirabi is enough to deal with." E added on before letting the smile he had out finally, at his brother's expense.

"God dammit!" Kirabi yelled as yet again, Naruto's defiance led to another joke aimed towards him. "Why is it that when he does something wrong it always comes back and haunts me?"

"Because you were his romodel growing up, therefore you are very much responsible for his actions." E answered, his smile growing even more as he loved making fun of his brother. It helped keep him from being overwhelmed by the pressures of his job and his brother made it so easy for him.

Blinking a few times after laughing at his sensei, Naruto was surprised when he was handed a vest by Yugito who was smiling brightly at him before embracing him in a hug. Stiffening in her grip, he wasn't sure what to do when she whispered into his ear. "I'm so sorry… Please forgive me."

Releasing her grip, she wiped a tear from her eye before standing besides the Raikage. While she knew her apology wouldn't be enough, she would work to make everything better. …Because if it wasn't for her, Naruto might not have wandered off and found Rika.

Not sure what had got into Yugito as of lately, he slowly slid on his jacket and strapped it on. It seemed to be a good replacement for his coat for now, but when he got back home he would get another coat custom made. They were very well made and resistant to all elemental techniques… But couldn't survive point blank explosions.

Hearing Mei's cough, E sighed before he motioned for Samui to step forward. "Ah, as to our agreement Naruto… It was cut short, but I will allow it mainly because I will be staying here for about another week and I believe you need to leave the village. They aren't acting well seeing Kyuubi has returned."

"Pathetic really. The villagers are in an uproar despite the fact the fox defended the village. Hmp, no wonder why the Hokage sent Naruto to the Cloud. It is far better then dealing with this crap." Mei added on with a deep frown as she had nearly killed a few villagers wanting to have Naruto executed.

Without nodding even though he was in full agreement, E's eyes landed on Naruto. "As such, it would be best if you traveled with Samui within the village at least till night fall. All three of you will be joined by Mei's students and one of the jounin as they will assist you for this mission. Consider it all of your first A-rank mission as it is highly likely you will run into shinobi being both chunin and jounin in rank."

"Thank you, lord Raikage." Naruto bowed, both thankful that he would be allowing him on this mission and getting him out of here if the village was reacting that badly to his presence. "Lady Mizukage, I bid you ado."

Smiling at the blonde, Mei watched as he left with Karui, Omoi and Samui quickly following. Soon as he was more then ear shot away, her smile faded as her fish clinched. "Petty villagers… They remind me of those I had to grow up with before they tried wiping us out. Even now, their hate still causes so much trouble for my village."

"It is just easier for them to find a scapegoat for their hatred then to try and pry into the truth and realize the boy is their hero. …They want to take the easy way out, just as everyone does at one point. But Naruto is strong; I doubt this will affect him much." E responded as he had a good grip on how the human mind worked.

"Yugito, I have a mission for you as well." The Raikage added after a brief pauses as he turned to the blonde. "You are to travel with Jiraiya of the Sannin as he is out to find the Slug Princess, Tsunade to help with the casualties here. However, the main purpose is to bring her back so she can replace Sarutobi as Hokage."

"What? This isn't something another village helps…" Yugito tried to state before the Raikage looked into her eyes.

"Just do it. It matters not if this is very unusual. Konoha needs our help and well will give it to them because we our now allies and I don't wish to break our treaty. Even if Konoha is not as strong like it once was, it is still very much a nation I would like to avoid a war with." E interrupted her as he already knew of the point she tried to bring up.

"Besides, Tsunade will need to be convinced to come back and the only person better then you at convincing people is heading to the Mist. And I doubt Lady Mei would be thrilled with the idea of canceling our mission there." E finished as he knew Yugito was very good at changing people for the better.

Frowning for a moment, Yugito left the room to find Jiraiya. Shi quickly left after her, wanting to talk to her before she left for an extended period of time. Darui also left momentarily to help with the rebuilding effort.

After he did, only E, Kirabi and Mei were left in the room and the former of the two were ready to leave when Mei spoke, still not smiling. "I believe you know of Naruto's payment for this mission. I've already upheld my portion of it and informed her of it. When he returns, I must ask you do the same so the betrothment will be officially canceled."

Thinking for a moment as he stopped, E looked into his brother's covered eyes before giving her an answer. "I shall not."

"What? If you don't…" Mei tried to reason with the Raikage, but it seemed he wasn't listening or had something better to do and had left in a swirl of electricity.

Sighing as he left, Kirabi shook his head before looking over towards Mei. "My brother promised that he would not accept it a while before this arrangement ever took place. It took place before… Naruto found Rika and she died before him."

Looking puzzled by this, Mei asked as she wanted to know what was going on with the blonde. "Who was this Rika? A girlfriend of his?"

Kirabi shook his head for a moment before answering. "No… She was his adopted daughter for a short time. To save your time, he became extraordinarily attached to her over the brief time he knew her and treated her like she was his own daughter. …Then right as he arrived at our gates… She was killed by a ninja that just seemed to be on a different level on everyone else I have ever seen."

"After that, he slipped into his colder and more methodical mind set and facade to keep anyone from getting close to him and worming their way into his heart. There was a time that he almost had transformed and became a cold blood killer like Gaara, but we all kept him close and helped him move on if only for her sake." Kirabi explained as he remembered the day very well.

"The reason he doesn't want the betrothal to go through is that he already cares for Kuro and if it becomes any deeper, he fears that she will have the same fate and be killed before his eyes. …My brother, while rough around the edges, is right for not canceling it now. He wants to show Naruto that the only way to conquer his fears… Is to face it." He finally finished his explanation.

Mei was shocked, even if she didn't show it visibly. It indeed was a very horrible feeling to see a loved one die before your eyes, especially one that you consider to be your child or younger sibling. She knew the feeling as it happened to many during the blood line purge years ago, including her.

While she was more mature at the time and ready for it to happen, she knew the damages it could cause to one's mental state. However, Naruto had it a little easier as he had loved ones around him to help him recover and he had reasonably done so.

It was also easier to understand why he didn't want to get hitched now. The thought and pain was still fresh on his mind and a lot of what ifs were going through his head. The main one being what if she suffered the same fate after he let her in.

"I see. That explains a lot now. …Thank you Kirabi, but I must be going now. The Lord Hokage told me to meet him around this time, so I bid you farewell." And with that, Mei disappeared in a plum of smoke.

* * *

"Man… I hate missions that start at night. They throw my entire sleeping cycle off." Omoi complained as they finally reached the western gate of Konoha, drinking a small cup of coffee to keep awake.

Karui simply yawned before rubbing her eyes, deciding to take a nap so she wouldn't be so tired when they left seeing the time that was given to them was midnight. "Ah… Stop complaining. You should have just taken a nap like I did, not drink a gallon of coffee."

"Would you wimps shut the hell up?" Talmor commented as they had been at the gate waiting for about ten minutes, preferring to be there early instead of on time.

As Omoi growled and Karui looked indignant, Samui rolled her eyes back. "He is right. You are going to have to get used to more night missions now that you are chunin. It is quite common place, especially if it the missions happen to deal with assassinations or recon. The night acts as an aid."

"Finally, a young woman that understands that!" Zabuza, the jounin Mei had selected to take care of her team while in the Whirlpool, stated as he looked at Samui with a lecherous glint in his eyes, mainly because of the size of her breast despite being a full ten years older then she was.

Ignoring Zabuza's comment, Samui looked back as she was leading the new team of chunin before her eyes widen. "What the… How the hell did he disappear with me knowing?"

"Oh, Sir Naruto is talking to Lady Mizukage over there." Kuro pointed Naruto out, his silhouette in clear view even if his image was a little blurry.

Squinting their vision, for no one else had eye sight that sharp, the first to nod was Zabuza. "Yeah, that is him over with her. Wonder what they are talking about?"

"Why don't you go find out, seeing as you are a jounin and better then us at _everything_." Ryuu comment with a smirk on his face, knowing the temperament of his sensei as she boiled people for interrupting her when she was having a conversation.

"Fuck you. I've seen what happens when she's interrupted. I'd like to keep my junk working for another few decades." Zabuza glared at the explosive swordsman for even suggesting that. Damn the kid's abilities and the fact that he was promoted chunin, his deception, sometimes goading, was what made him dangerous.

Over with Naruto and Mei, the latter was speaking. "Naruto, before this mission begins I have something to give you."

"If it is another kiss, please save it. You burnt that into my skin for a week and even Kyuubi couldn't fix it quickly." Naruto responded as he rubbed his cheek, remembering that kiss very well as it had a lasting impression… Literally.

Mei shook her head, giggling as she had half an idea of doing that again as it was quite fun. She loved boys that she could tease without it turning sexual. "No, no. That was just for fun. This, however, is something more substantial, especially for a ninja."

Raising his eyebrow, wondering what it was, he noticed Mei had pulled out a small scroll from a very seductive place, making Naruto blush furiously.

Grinning at his response, Mei simply smirked as she opened it. One of the best assets to a kunoichi was their body and she knew how to use it very well to get the male's attention and make them weak.

Pulling forth two scrolls from that scroll, one being far bigger then the other, she handed both of them to Naruto. "Those were willed to you by your grand father. The larger one is obviously a summoning contract, as you can tell from the size. It would be best if you signed it now for you will need them to prove who you are on your mission."

"The other scroll is a gift from me. Consider it an early payment for this, but you will enjoy it greatly." Mei smirked as she knew her gift would go over very well, especially for a combat aggressive ninja such as Naruto.

Doing as she told, he opened the summoning scroll and cut his palm on his sword before signing his name on the contract. He was surprised that there was only a few other names on the scroll, one being his mother's. However, he was quite thrilled as he saw what the summoning was. The animal suited him well.

Soon as he finished, he took the other scroll before opening and unsealing it. What was in it shocked him. They were bracer that stretched from wrist to elbow like a sleeve. "What the… Are these weapon bracers?"

"Yes, they are. In fact, we've just confiscated many of these from the land of Snow. Each has the capacity to take strikes up to a thousand pounds of force without denting and absorbing chakra to lighten the blow from chakra attacks." Mei explained as Naruto examined them.

"For yours, we kept the standard senbon launcher as it is useful in tight spots. There are also many small blades attached to the arm that can be activated by a small dose of chakra to make your enemies pay for trying to lock onto you. And finally, there were a few special modifications for you. I won't tell you, but you'll discover them while you use your own unique abilities." Mei finished at the end, her smile never leaving her face.

Understanding at least one of the said special abilities dealt with Kyuubi's chakra, he grinned before slowly slid them on. To his surprise, he felt them tightening onto him before slowly adjusting to his forearms.

Not sure what that was about, he bowed lightly to Mei. "Thank you, Lady Mizukage. Now, I must be off. I'm sure you would hate to delay this mission any longer."

"May your mission go well and your sword strike fear into those that oppose you." Mei responded as she slightly bowed her head in gratitude.

Without further delay, Naruto sealing the summoning scroll into another and pocketing it and turned from Mei and headed to join the rest of the shinobi waiting on him. As he arrived to the gate, Zabuza was the first to recognize the bracers. "Holy hell… Well, now that does explain the special customizations she made now."

"Sorry for keeping you waiting, but now let's move out." Naruto spoke before he began to take the lead, knowing exactly where he was heading. "If you can keep up, then I will leave you behind. I want to get there as fast as possible."

Frowning at Naruto's comment, Samui stepped forward. "Naruto, I am in charged here. You will obey my orders on this mission…"

"Samui, I am the Crimson Rouge. I will do this mission at my pace and no one else's. If you are too slow, I will leave you behind." Naruto responded as he gazed into her eyes and beckoned her to challenge him.

Having been informed that Naruto was like this, never having been on a mission with him before, Samui calmed down before she gave him a response. "And what happens if you run into enemy ninja or worse, the Akatsuki? You…"

"Then they will learn of my wrath. I may be a chunin by rank, but I am a demon vessel and far beyond others in skill as we are trained to be weapons. Now let's move out, as this is my mission, not yours Samui." Naruto responded before barking out and taking the lead as he headed towards the Whirlpool.

Smirking at the boy's tenacity, Zabuza stepped forward. "I'm beginning to like this kid. He'd already be a jounin if he was in the Mist. This might be pretty fun to follow him. You heard kids, let's move out. I want to be there by dawn!"

Running forward like the wild man he was, Zabuza was quickly followed by the Mizukage's squad leaving Samui alone with her former team mates.

Sighing and shrugging her shoulders, Karui was the first to step forward. "Many things have changed since you last trained with us. But he is right, don't treat him or us like we are still gennin. We are now chunin and fully aware of what we must do. Now let's go."

As Karui chased after them, Omoi nodded and was about to follow before turning to Samui. "She is right about that and don't forget this is his mission, not ours. We are merely there to provide support and protection, not to do his work and reclaiming the Whirlpool as Mist territory. And if we are lucky, we might get a cut of ownership. You never know."

With that, Omoi sprinted after the rest and left Samui alone.

Thinking for a moment, Samui nodded as Omoi was right. While she was only a few years their elder and she was now jounin, they were no longer kids. They were chunin of the Cloud. They knew their mission and accepted the possible consequences.

Smiling, she followed after them. They had really grown under Naruto's leadership, taking over for her and improving them far beyond what she remembered.

Kirabi may be their sensei, but Naruto had stepped up and had become the leader.

* * *

**A/N**: Sorry it took so much time for this chapter to come out but I promised myself that I would get chapter 12 finished before putting this one out and… I finally just finished it. Hurray…

Anyways this wraps up the Konoha portion of this story and while there will be characters from the leaf, this will focus mostly on Naruto, the Cloud, a few of the Mist characters and the Whirlpool.

There isn't much to explain this chapter so if you have any questions, for maybe I missed something, don't hesitate to ask me. Comments are welcomed.

The next update should be sooner. Peace Out.


	9. Chapter 9

I Do Not Own Naruto

* * *

As morning broke, Naruto still held the lead of the group as they arrived in the Land of Whirlpool. It could have been because he was simply traveling at a faster pace or because he had taken control back at the exit.

However, the main reason was simple. He was the key to the missions success and the country needed to see that the Uzumaki clan was still alive and strong.

"Alright, let's slow the pace down kid." Zabuza stated as he began to scan the area for hints of something. "My unit was in this area last before I was called in to guard Lady Mei to Konoha. We should join up with them to learn what's happened since I left."

"I agree. We don't know the state of the territory is in. For all we know they could have gained enough forces to try and secede from the Mist." Samui added as she had quickly caught everyone and took her position by Zabuza, being the only other jounin on the mission.

Nodding, Naruto slowed his pace making almost everyone sigh in relief. He would had indeed left them behind if he kept the pace he was going at. "What should we be looking for, Zabuza?"

Looking at his surroundings, Zabuza motioned his head to the east. "We should check nearby the river beds and springs. Haku is a hunter ninja, only a year or two older than yourself with excellent stealth. If he senses I'm with you he won't hide and if he does, good luck finding him. Raiga is another swordsman like I am that Mei brought back after she overthrew that asshole, Yagura. He'll be easy to see but we better spread out to find them."

Following the direction Zabuza had motioned towards, the group began to search as they separated from each other but stayed within hearing range. It didn't take long for Kuro to spot them nearby a large bed of water. "Zabuza, I found them!"

Moments later, everyone was gathered around a rugged swordsman with two blades crossed on his back and a feminine hunter ninja with his mask. Every Cloud ninja had to do a double take as they all thought the hunter ninja to be a girl at first glance.

"Master Zabuza, it is good to see you. Talmor, you too." Haku friendly greeted them before his eyes turned to the Cloud ninja. "Are one of them suppose to be the new lord of the Whirlpool?"

"They all look weak to me. Maybe good for burying." Raiga stated not impressed by any of them before both of his blades crackled with electricity.

While they all were insulted by his comment, Naruto was the only one that reacted as he stepped forward. "I am Uzumaki Naruto, grandson of Uzumaki Nakahito. Now tell us what has been going on here since Zabuza's departure."

"Don't order me around here kid!" Raiga growled as he was ready to unsheathe his sword. "I don't care what happens here in all honesty, so I have no problem in killing you right here."

This guy was rubbing Naruto the wrong way. First he insulted them, somewhat understandable then he puts down his homeland and then told him to his face he had no problem killing him. He had half a thought to unleash Kyuubi's chakra to intimidate him or use a gesture of power to make him back down.

Before things could get out of hand, Haku stepped between them. "Before we tell you anything, we must be sure that you are indeed his heir. Not that we don't trust Lady Mizukage, but the summoning contract she allow you to sign can only be used by Uzumaki. Summon for us then we will tell you all we know."

Liking Haku more then Raiga so far, Naruto nodded before he brought his thumb to on of his incisors and cut it on it. Then with a quick few hand seals, Naruto planted his palm onto the ground. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu(Summoning Jutsu)."

As smoke filled the area before a large plop was heard. When the smoke began to disperse, tentacles began to emerge from the water finally before a large head emerged; looking around before its eyes found the one it summoned him.

"You are the one that summoned me?" A deep, sulky and hoarse voice boomed from the creature that easily was quadruple the size of anyone there, its large eyes never leaving the blonde haired teen.

Naruto showed no fear before the giant octopus as he stepped forward. "I did. My mother was Uzumaki Kushina. As you know, my grandfather has passed away and the Whirlpool is in chaos, so I am going to need your help."

Listening to the boy, the octopus made no movement before one of its tentacles suddenly lashed towards Naruto. He made no movement as the tentacle wrapped around him and the suction cups of the tentacle passed over him, as if they were tasting him. "Am I, telling the truth?"

As fast as the tentacle wrapped around him, the tentacle unwraveled around him before returning to the water. "Yes, you are. You are Kushina's boy, but you have your father's demeanor... But I sense you have signed another contract already. I smell those amphibians... toads I believe is what you humans call them."

"Yes, I signed that contract recently. My father had wished for me to sign it so I did as the toads are quite powerful and can fight on land." Naruto responded with no hesitation as he looked at the great octopus.

Wading in the water for a moment, the giant octopus responded. "That is acceptable. Our use on land is limited and more of a hindrance to the summoner. Very well, I will tell Mother of you Naruto. She will be excited that there is another Uzumaki alive."

"Your not the boss summon?" Naruto asked, surprised as the size of the creature was impressive as the tentacles made up at least half of its body. And the amount of chakra he had used was near the amount it took to bring out Gamabunta and he only got this one? How strong was Mother?

The octopus darkly chuckled as its large eyes gazed at the blonde. "No, Mother is our queen and is much large then I am. I am Jupis. I looked forward to meeting you again, young Uzumaki."

In another plum of smoke, Jupis was gone. Once the smoke disappeared, Naruto turned back to the rest of the shinobi, his attention focused on Haku and Raiga. "Does that prove I'm who I say I am?"

Blinking, Haku shook his head as he was expecting a smaller octopus not one that big. "Uh... Yes it does. Alright, let's get to business."

Raiga huffed before turning away, not caring in the least. He did not like the little punk at all and wasn't going to help him or this land in anyway. He was only here because Mei had gave him this mission instead of sending him after Kisame, like he asked for.

Ignoring Raiga, Haku started the briefing. "As Master Zabuza has probably informed you of, the Yuki and Urameshi clans had combined forces to take control of the land again now the Uzumaki was gone. However, the Wolf clan was still in their way as they knew there was an Uzumaki still alive."

"They refused to let them take control and in response... They were all slaughtered. They didn't even let the women, children, butlers or even the maids live. They killed everyone, even making sure to kill every last wolf pup before burning their house and the Uzumaki house to the ground." Haku said, grimacing as he looked over towards Kuro.

"After they burned the Uzumaki legacy down, they have been rallying the other clans to step up and secede from the Mist so if we do retaliate, they have an arm to fight against us. So far they have gained the support of only a few of the weaker clans in the area as mostly all the clans know the Mist is still very powerful." Haku added as he began to settle down as everyone else was seated.

"As of now, we've only been able to slow them down. They are gaining more and more support and it won't be long before they believe they are strong enough to secede." Haku said glumly as he knew their odds were very low to keep the Whirlpool from erupting into a civil war.

Controlling his burning rage, Naruto closed his eyes as there was nothing that could be done to fix what had happened. All they could do was change the way this was going to finish and keep this land from starting a war other nations could be brought into. "I see... We need to hurry then, our time is short."

"That's right... But they have a plan to make their secession go off without a hitch... In six days Lady Mei will be coming through here to check on her progress before heading back to the Mist..." Haku grimaced as his point got across to the others.

"Fuckers! They plan on killing Mei? Over my dead body!" Zabuza growled out as he knew that her death would through the Mist into a state of anarchy as all those thristy for power would try to take their place as Mizukage, more then likely starting a new civil war in the process.

Everyone's face fell at this as they knew what Mei meant to the Mist. Without another word, Naruto stood back up. "Well let's get going. We can't let them succeed."

"I agree, but we have to be full strength for this. Almost all of you are fatigued right now, suggesting that you ran all night to get here. Like it or not, everyone here will be needed to stop them. Using today to rest is the wisest course of action and once it is midnight, we will make our move." Haku stated, seeing that everyone but her master and Naruto was worn down.

Seeing this as well, Naruto sighed before sitting back down. "Fine, I'll take first watch. Everyone get as much rest as you can, for after tomorrow you might not get any."

"That's fine with me. I've gone two weeks without sleeping before. This will be no problem." Zabuza grinned as he wished more and more he could have had this kid to train. He was a pure warrior and one that he would love to go to war with.

No one argued and almost immediately, only after getting their sleeping bags out, Karui and Omoi were out. Not too long after, Ryuu and Talmor were asleep and even Haku, Samui and Raiga were resting their heads, attempting to fall asleep.

Kuro, however, walked straight to Naruto and before he could even respond, she slapped him. "You ass! You knew my clan was killed and then you ordered for an annulment of our marriage! What the fuck were you thinking, Uzumaki? You knew that it was all I had to hold onto!"

Surprised by the stinging sensation and his cheek and ignoring Zabuza's 'OH FUCK!', Naruto shook his head before sighing and closing his eyes. "I thought it was for the best. With your family dead, it seemed like a bad idea to continue with it as I am the reason they are dead now. They would have stepped down if they had not known I was alive."

"The hell they would have! Those fuckers were the reason the Mist invaded and annexed our land in the first place as they had pissed them off! We knew that and we wouldn't give them any power without a fight!" Kuro growled as her image became more feral and her muscle began to tighten.

Noticing this, Naruto tensed for a moment before calming as he could deal with Kuro. "Nonetheless, it would have been a bad idea. ...I am not one you want to get close to, Kuro. I am a monster. I make everyone I love either starts hating me... or they die before my eyes. ...I don't want either of those to happen with you."

Shocked at his statement, Kuro wasn't sure what to say. That would definitely make it hard to reach out to someone when those they care for the most died or even worse, started hating him. But she wouldn't hate him, even if she forced herself to make a good impression on him. "Naruto, I..."

"Leave it for now. We'll talk about it later. ...We have a job to do, so get some rest while you can. We will likely not get any rest to stop the Yuki and Urameshi." Naruto interrupted as he didn't want to talk any further. He wanted to focus on what was at hand, taking back the Whirlpool for the Mist.

Frowning, Kuro wanted to push the subject more even if they had an important mission. But his demeanor was what told her to back off. His muscles were tense and the pupil in his eyes had morphed into a slit and his whiskers had widened. He was ready to attack. While she knew she wasn't his target, she knew not to mess with him in this state. He was like a predator getting ready to go on a hunt for big game.

However, her clan was very in-tuned with his nature and instead of being frightened by this... She actually found this to be very attractive. That was one reason her clan had made a pact with the Uzumaki. Her ancestors recognized the strength of the Uzumaki and being closely in-tuned with nature, they wanted to serve the alpha male which in this case happened to be his ancestors.

Shaking her head of that and of her attraction, Kuro sighed as she found a soft spot before laying down after putting down her sleeping bag. Looking over at Naruto, she sighed one last time before closing her eyes.

* * *

"Ah man, you should have seen it! The pour bastards didn't stand a chance! We just stormed their house and wiped them out before they knew what hit him!" An Urameshi drunkenly slurred to his friend in the bar. He was definitely an Urameshi as the symbol on his clothing gave that away.

"You've been talking about that for weeks. I know you think you did well and all, but you got your ass knocked out!" The other guy stated, poking fun as he remembered seeing him placed in the hospital, completely battered and bruised.

Outside the bar, Naruto was literally restraining Kuro from bursting in and killing the men. They were talking about the massacre of her family and she wasn't going to take. "I'll fucking kill them... Let me go!"

Wondering if it was a good idea to bring her for this, Haku shook his head. She normally was very stealthy, but he should have known better. This was her family that had been murdered and even he couldn't keep his cool when his mother's death was brought before him. "Kuro, quiet down. If they spot us we won't be able to get anything out of them. We need them alive, not dead!"

Growling, Kuro tried to claw out of Naruto's grip. "Fuck you! I want their head on a platter... Damn you Naruto!" She suddenly growled out at him as she suddenly hit the ground, her arms and legs stiff.

Blinking, Haku waited for an explanation as Naruto moved to the side of the bar to listen. "I used a seal that paralyzes the limbs so she would stop struggling. It last for ten minutes, so she'll be fine for now. Don't worry, it was used on me a lot when I was a kid."

Nodding as he understood and glad it was safe, Haku planted his ear to the wall and listened in once more. After a few minutes, Naruto nodded as they could clearly hear the Urameshi stumbling about. "He's coming out... You got any ideas to nab him?"

Looking at Kuro, Haku had an idea come to him as he snapped his fingers. Sure it was lewd, but those worked the best as they always made guys interested. "Wait, I have an idea to lure him to us!"

As he explained his plan to Naruto and an unwilling Kuro, the Urameshi staggered out of the bar. "Damn... I drank a little too much again... Oh well, I'll just sleep at that hotel over there..."

Yawning, he was about to head to it, a sound caught his attention. It was muffled, but he knew what it was. It was the sound of a girl moaning in pleasure. While it was muffled, it wasn't coming from the hotel as it normally did. No, it was coming from the alley.

Looking around, making sure no one else noticed, he took a peek before grinning. A blonde dude, probably around seventeen or so, was giving it and giving it hard to another blonde about the same age. But the thing was, the girl was extraordinarily hot.

Seeing an opportunity arise, he set his plan into action even if he was a little clumsy. He could be some young punk easily, he was a ninja. Getting close, he could see he was really pounding into her and thought about waiting as it was kind of a turn on watching other do it before he jumped in.

It was then felt a sharp edge on his throat, making his entire body freeze. "Naruto, Kuro that's enough. We got him."

Stopping, Naruto slowly let down Kuro, who oddly didn't look too displeased, revealing they had been faking the entire thing. "Good, if he got any closer we might have been discovered."

Nodding, Haku threw the guy into the wall as Kuro placed a dagger at his throat, growling. She wanted to end his life but Haku and Naruto were right. They needed some information first. Then she could kill him. "Tell us what you know of what your clan and the Yuki assassination plot against the Mizukage or I'll rip your fucking throat out!"

"Fuck you bitch. I won't say a word." The Uremashi state, not afraid of death if it would keep his clan form losing its chance at glory. It was a small price to pay.

Growling, Kuro almost slashed her dagger through his throat when Haku gripped her wrist. That was when Naruto grabbed him by the throat looking absolutely feral. "Listen here, you will tell us what you know or I'll feed you to Mother!"

Seeing the fear grow in his eyes, Naruto grinned as he began to focus the killing intent of the fox onto the man before him. "Oh, you know of Mother? Good, that makes things easier now that you know who I am... Now speak our you get to play a little game of cat and mouse... And you'll be the mouse."

Shaking as he the young man before him looked like a beast as red chakra surround him, he was ready to scream but the pressure on his throat kept him from uttering a syllobal. "Can't let you scream out. I guess I'll use a reverse summon now and send you to their world..."

He slightly released his grip on his throat as he got ready to make the hand seals when the guy broke. "No! I'll tell you... Their going to strike the Lady Mizukage when she passes through a nearby port village to get to the Mist... Please don't..."

Looking over at Haku, who nodded as that was what they needed, Naruto released his grip of his throat. "Thank you... Kuro, do it."

Before he could say a thing, Kuro drove her dagger through his temple before ripping it out, splattering some of his blood onto her. "Fucking Urameshi scum..."

"Let's go. We got what we came for." Haku said before looking around as he knew other would have felt Naruto's chakra spike.

All three vanished into a swirl of electricity and misty water just as many nearby ninja arrived to find the comrade dead.

* * *

It was a somber moment for Kuro and Naruto when they arrived at the burned remains of the Uzumaki and Wolf house. The grave markers were numerous, most of them being from the Wolf clan, though surprisingly a few were from the Uzumaki.

"I thought I was the only one the could find..." Naruto commented as he looked over at the graves of the few Uzumaki that were buried.

"No, there were others. A few stayed after the Mist took over to help Nakahito. However, none of them believed they could take over for him. They all were trying to find you, Kushina's son, as she was Nakahito's only child as our leaders said none of them could rule as they weren't strong enough." Kuro stated as tears began to flood her eyes as she found her parent's graves.

When Ryuu attempt to comfort her, she simply pushed him away before growling. "I don't need help! We have a mission we have to do."

Everyone could hear the pain in her voice and none could blame her. Even Raiga and Zabuza, the two most uncaring of the group, felt for the girl. To have your family killed down to every last member was a devastating lose, one that many could not overcome.

But she was right, they had a mission, so Zabuza was able to step forward. "Let's go. We know where they are heading, so we have to get their first."

"Ah, so the Mist finally responds and even has called the Cloud for help? Pathetic. Oh well, I can finally get rid of the last Uzumaki." A voice boomed from the north, bringing everyone's attention.

"Deigo!" Kuro growled as she knew this man very well. "You bastard! You'll pay for what you did to my family!"

"Oh, so a Wolf still lives? Pity, I had hoped we had finished your pitiful clan off. Damn Uzumaki, they were always to merciful and never got rid of an enemy when they had a chance." Deigo responded as he looked towards the girl, trying to get her to come after him.

As Kuro roared and tried to lunge towards him, Naruto held her back. "LET ME GO! I'LL KILL HIM!"

"Shit! Damn Urameshi have us surrounded! This is a trap!" Zabuza yelled out as he unsheathed his blade as he saw at least thirty shinobi surrounding them, all wearing old Whirlpool head bands.

Raiga only chuckled before he began to back away bringing all of their attention to him. "Too bad for you guys. I was actually planning on letting you all take care of the assassins while I covered Mei... But plans have changed, especially now since there is an Uzumaki once more."

Zabuza immediately was in front of Raiga ready to cleave him in two only for Raiga to jump out of the way. "Sorry old friend, but I happen to be one of those powers waiting to take control of the Mist and if I kill Mei... Well, no one will really argue if I come into power. I just need to get rid of any that could cause me problems taking over."

"Raiga... You sold us out!" Zabuza growled dangerously and wanted nothing more to kill him for betraying him.

"No hard feelings, comrade. This is just how politics work nowadays and I want my share of glory. The Sixth Mizukage... That doesn't sound too bad." Raiga grinned before he flickered away and joined Deigo. "Kill them, we have a deal. The Whirlpool will be free at last and I will be the next Mizukage."

Deigo grinned and gave the order with a flick of his hand before turning away with Raiga.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Zabuza screamed as he tried to rush him but he was forced to turn away immediately as kunai and shuriken embedded the ground he was trying to head.

Cursing, he joined the rest in a defensive stance. "Fuck, we're out numbered and these guys are from most of the minor clans here. The bastard Urameshi is disrespecting us thinking that they're enough to stop us.

"That's not what he is thinking. He doesn't want to use his own clansmen as he's saving them for the assassination attempt on Mei. These guys are nothing but pawns that he hopes will take care of us." Naruto stated as he unsheathed his blade and gazed into the charging ninja's eyes.

Liking that even less, Zabuza formed one half seal as did Talmor, Ryuu and Naruto and a heavy mist began to cover the entire area. The entire battalion of charging ninja kept charging forward, not wanting to give them a chance to strike. However, there was no one there for them to strike and they only hit their own, taking them down in one strike.

Zabuza's laughed filled the air and echoed from all around them, intent to kill oozing from his voice. "You think you welts are worth our time? I'll enjoy taking every last one of your lives!"

Screams where heard through the mist as Zabuza went through them easily, his eyes closed as he used his ears to locate his enemies and killed them with one stroke. Talmor worked similarly but on a far less effective scale, needing a second and third strike to finish his opponent. A few loud bangs cleared some of the mist, however, the scene of Ryuu tearing through their ninja and their bodies afterwards exploding into bits was utterly horrifying.

While Karui, Omoi and Samui weren't as accustomed to fighting in the mist, they knew how to thanks to spars with Naruto. Using their opponent's confusion and the chaos the swordsmen were causing, both Karui and Omoi quickly slid in a put their katanas through the spine of their enemies. Samui simply stuck with an old fashion approach, using her stealth and sneaking behind them before snapping their necks.

There was also feral growls heard with the mist before a blur of red and blue tore through the ninja's throats with precise accuracy. Her daggers were coated in blood as she looked towards the enemy shinobi. As she began stalking towards them, not caring that they could see her, she became more and more feral. "You... You join with them after what they did to my family... I'LL KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU!"

As the ninja were ready for an attack from her, tentacles flew out of the mist and wrapped around each of them and slammed them into the ground repeatedly before crushing a few in its grasps while others were thrown into the sky and crashed down and their bodies splattered on impact.

The few remaining ninjas all looked shocked as they knew the summon very well. "An oct-octpus summon! Their is still an Uzumaki!"

"AND I'M RIGHT HERE!" Naruto yelled out before he burst from the mist, his blade streaking towards them before their heads rolled, leaving only one alive.

Watching as the mist died, everyone surrounded the lone remaining ninja before Naruto placed his blade at his throat. "You are to tell the rest of the clans to back off! There is still one reigning Uzumaki and he's out for blood for what has happened! And give the Yuki and Urameshi a message for me... For not sparing the women and children, there will be no quarter!"

Seeing the ninja tremble under his gaze, Naruto move his blade away before gripping his throat violently as his entire visage turned feral as Kyuubi's chakra entered his system. "DO YOU GET ME?"

Fearing for his life the man nodded, resulting in Naruto throwing him aside. "Then get out of here. You know your job."

No sooner then those words left his mouth, the man scrambled to his feet and ran off into the distance, screaming in fear. Naruto didn't care in the least before his attention turned to Jupis. "Thank you for the assists. I was intrested to see what kind of power you held... And I wasn't disappointed."

"The same can be said here, Master Uzumaki. If there is anything you need of, call and we will assist." Jupis boomed before dispersing and returning to his habitat with the rest of the summon octopus.

"Should I follow him? He might lead us to the heads of the clans and Raiga. We might be able to take them out now before the assassination attempt." Haku stated as he was ready to give chase after him at a given word.

Thinking for a moment, Zabuza wasn't sure. Taking out the heads would be good, but it might not stop the assassination attempt and if it didn't they could lose Mei. "I can't say. He might not even leads to them at all and only pass the word onto people that will so it would lose its fear effect. Samui, what do you think?"

"Honestly, we head to stop the assassination. From what we know, it is both clan's desire to cause this havoc so the can secede easily while Raiga succeeds power in the Mist. Even if we kill the heads and Raiga before the attempt, there is nothing that says the assassination won't still occur." Samui gave her opinion on the matter.

"I agree. As much as I want to kill them, Mei's safety should be our top concern as of now. We can deal with them after she is safe." Naruto added before he looked over towards Kuro, expecting her to lash out and say they should go after them.

"We could split up and send a group after him to follow them and another to protect Mei." Talmor suggested as he thought about the two situations and tried to get best of both worlds.

Ryuu simply shook his head before responding. "No, we cannot now that we lost Raiga. Before it would have been possible as we would have been able to split our strength evenly. But now, it would be unbalanced and the team with the short stick could fail."

"Not to mention your still licking your wounds after fighting blondie here and not a hundred percent." Zabuza mentioned before he pointed over at Naruto, having enjoyed that fight very much and had wished the exams would have lasted longer. Some of those fights looked promising and he would have loved to watch the blonde fight the red headed demon vessel.

As Ryuu glared at Zabuza picking on his wounds, Kuro growled as she was torn between what to do before finally knowing what she had to do. "Shut up! We need to get to town Lady Mei is scheduled to stop in tomorrow so we can stop the assassination."

Naruto tilted his head at her for a moment, he shook his head before nodding. "She's right. The more we stay here and bicker, the more time they have to prepare. Let's get there and make sure we clear the path."

Not getting any argument as it had been decided, everyone started to head that direction when Naruto reached out and gripped Kuro's arm.

Growling, Kuro almost lashed out at him and barely kept her body from doing so. "Let go of me you bastard! We have to go..."

"Kuro, I promise we will get them." Naruto told her as he looked into her eyes, his feral features receding as he calmed his emotions. "We will make them pay for taking our family's lives... I'll make sure of that."

Kuro's entire body shivered as she stared into his eyes. His demeanor as he said that not only made her heart jump, she literally felt the raw fury his words held despite the control he held over his body. She felt if there was anyone that could keep his word... It was him.

And that made her feel just a sliver better. It wasn't much, but it was enough for her to shed a lone tear. "Sir Naruto... Thank you. ...I'll help in what I can."

Smiling, Naruto embraced Kuro for a brief moment before following after the rest, who were now waiting in the distance and wondering what was taking them so long.

Almost freezing at his touch, Kuro felt something she hadn't been able to see or hear. He was holding in his tears too as he was in terrible pain. Almost following him robotically, she wasn't sure what to think about him any more.

There was just so much that was unknown.

* * *

"So that boy is our target? We'll, let's go get him." Kisame grinned as he watched the blondes from a distance, ready to pounce.

However, he was stopped by his much smaller partner. "No, if we go now we are sure to fail. We'll play into his environment if we fight him here. Don't forget, this boy is special. It would be better if we could catch him in a dryer domain."

"Oh yeah, if he summons Mother I'm screwed. Samehada will be completely useless and the fight would be up to you, Itachi." Kisame stated before frowning as he put his hand onto his hip.

Itachi simply nodded before turning around and began to walk away. "We'll watch him for now. Unless an opening appears and we are sure we can get him, we are to observe. And that is unlikely as the Mizukage will be here tomorrow and it is possible the Raikage could be with her."

Grumbling a little, hating the fact they were backing off from a chunin, a very dangerous one but a chunin nonetheless, Kisame shook his head. Itachi was right. In a battle against an Uzumaki, he would be annihilated as their skills were counters for everything he did well and Mother would eat Samehada for breakfast.

However, Itachi was a different story...

* * *

**A/N**: There is the ninth chapter of this story and I've got to say… I was disappointed with last chapter. I didn't get a single review(insert Lee with tears rolling down his eyes). However that marks a milestone… The first time I've never got a review before an update… A sad day indeed. (Addition, I thank Hades252 2 for actually going back and review chapter 8 for me... It makes me feel better.)

Anyways, if you have any questions or have a comment(or something, anything) I will get back to you.

P.S.: I'm look for a beta for this story so if you want to just let me know.

P.S.S: I'm going to use Mediaminer for a few of the stories that I want to publist here to gather reactions to what readers think. So far I've place the first chapter of Rotten Roots and others will follow.

Peace Out.


	10. Chapter 10

I Do Not Own Naruto

* * *

"Hm... Something is off. This mist... Lady Mei, we might be walking into a trap." Ao stated as the mist around them was much thicker than regular mist could get. And with the current weather, he doubted that there would be enough water below for this mist to be natural.

Having noticed this, Mei simply nodded as she continued walking forward as she was confident in her guards' abilities and her own. "If we are, you will be able to spot them so I am in good hands. Do you see anything?"

Activating his single Byukugan as the female jounin tensed, Ao scanned the area before catching a familiar figure. "Yes. Raiga is heading towards us. Other than him there is no intruder near our location."

Frowning as he was supposed to be with the team she sent here to help Naruto, Mei stopped for a moment before smiling as she always did. "I see... Raiga, what is it that you have come for?"

Hearing her words soon as he arrived, Raiga immediately spoke. "Lady Mei, Zabuza sent me forward to warn you there is a battle ahead. The Yuki and Urameshi clans were plotting to assassinate you here today."

"Then why were you sent? Haku can travel easier through this mist and find us faster. You are more suitable for combat." The female jounin stated, her eyes narrowed as something was off about Raiga and they both knew of Haku's bloodline.

Not letting his frown show, Raiga shook his head. "They thought it best that I would join you and make sure Lady Mizukage is safe. They can handle them without my presence."

"Lady Mei, maybe we should wait. Knowing Zabuza, this shouldn't take long and if we arrive during battle we might only serve to interfere and make their jobs difficult." Ao commented, knowing that when Zabuza started fighting anyone and everyone that showed up was a target.

Shaking her head, Mei smiled before she walked over to Raiga. "There is no worry. Lead the way, Raiga. I would like to make sure Naruto is alright. After all, I will kill anyone that harms my nephew. Kushina and I may have been fraternal twins, but she was still my sister and he is family."

Nodding, Raiga took the lead, somewhat surprised by Mei's statement. Nonetheless, part one was done as both she and the boy would die today. Now all he had to do was wait for the right moment to strike.

* * *

It was dark for being midday. The sky was covered as far as one could see with storm clouds as thunder boomed and lighting crackled. There was a heavy downpour and a strong mist making it hard to see a few feet into the distance.

However, there was a large group of what seemed to be Whirlpool ninja with Deigo standing among them, frowning at what he saw. "It seems I underestimated them. Oh well, let us hope Raiga can uphold his end of the bargain. Our target will be the Uzumaki boy if we cannot get to the Mizukage. Without him, she has no leverage and we would be free at last."

"What if Raiga betrays us? What will we do then Lord Deigo? We don't have the man power to take the Mist forces on if they invade us." One of the younger Urameshi clansmen questioned as this entire scenario could end badly for them.

Deigo, however, shook his head. "He won't betray us at the moment. He will assassinate Lady Mei and by the time he comes to power in the Mist, we will have the support of other nations and he won't be able to betray us then as other nations will recognize us and come to our aid if they invade this time."

"But that's the problem... What if no other country recognizes us? It's a fact that the Cloud and now the Leaf are allied with the Mist. That would only leave the Rock and Sand and the Sand is weak from that attempted invasion against the Leaf." A middle aged woman responded, fearing what could happen if the worse were to occur.

"Lord Tsuchikage has already stated he will recognize us if we secede as long as we open trade with them and allow them to us our ports. Their military might is only rivaled by the Cloud in terms of strength, but in pure number they have a grand advantage." Deigo answered as he scanned over the mist before them. "Quiet... They are here."

Hiding in the mist that filled the town, everyone knew this was going to be a problem. They held the high ground and were out of the mist. Now this wouldn't be too horrible but they were smart and were using civilian resident housing to their advantage. If they were to attack them there could be civilian casualties and could be the spark needed to start an outcry of rebellion.

"I have to hand it to those assholes... They know how to plan. Meeting them at their level will only play into their hands and we can't bring them down to ours without possibly hurting the civilians in the process." Zabuza grumbled as he could see they were waiting for them to make a move.

Samui only nodded in agreement as she saw the same problem when Omoi started thinking aloud. "Hm, what if we were to draw them to us using someone as bait... Using Naruto as bait? We know they want him as much as they want this assassination to happen. We might be able to bring a few in and then be able to get up onto their level to fight."

Blinking for a moment, Haku nodded as he looked over to where the Urameshi stood in waiting. "That would work. Those who break off I could catch with my bloodline and trap them and we could get up there and force them to play into our hand."

As everyone looked towards him, Naruto sighed before gripping his sword's handle. "So basically, this is entirely up to me to get a few of them to chase then have Haku cover my ass while the rest of you get behind them and get them off the residential houses?"

"Do you have a better plan because we're all ears?" Ryuu commented as his idea of blowing the houses up were completely taken away due to the possible casualties it could cause.

"Yes actually. Each of you just wait here and be ready to pounce on a moment's notice." Naruto responded before he jumped straight out of the mist and onto a house before the Urameshi and unsheathed his blade. "Urameshi, it is time for you to pay for your crimes! Especially you, Deigo!"

Deigo narrowed his eyes as he saw the kid jump out of the mist before drawing his sword towards him. He knew the rest were around as he had seen them through the mist before they hid. But now the mist had thickened and it was much harder to see through.

"Stand down. This is a trap; they're trying to draw us to them. If we don't move they'll have to come to us." Deigo ordered as he saw his clansmen getting ready to meet the new threat.

Naruto only smirked as he saw this before he held his sword towards his body as it began to vibrate within his hands. "I wouldn't worry as much about them. They are only here to protect Lady Mizukage. I'm here for all of your blood for what you did to both my clan and the Wolf clan! Every one of you will die for your crimes against our families!"

Dropping his sword and dragging it against the house, scaring the housetops along the way, Naruto rushed towards them immediately after he had finished speaking. Everyone was prepared for him, ready to strike him soon as he arrived but Naruto leapt into the air before landing on a rapidly formed platform of ice before jumping further into the air.

Smirking at their shocked faces, Naruto suddenly sheaved his sword before he leapt into the air to avoid the hail of shuriken thrown towards him. In the air, Naruto rapidly went through a series of hand seals before he finished as the electricity in the air began to swarm around him.

"Raiton: Rayuu Endan!(Lighting Style: Lighting Dragon Missile)" A sudden cry came, but it wasn't from Naruto which was what caught everyone off guard. It was a woman's voice and it was from below.

A dragon of pure electricity flew straight for them and between them forcing all of them to abandon the roof top they stood on. As soon as they did, the others were ready. Two fell immediately, one by Zabuza's blade as he laid in waiting and another from just a light slash before he suddenly went up in an explosion.

Deigo cursed as he was one of the few that made it onto another roof top, only his top clansmen avoided getting in the mist. Now they were down to ten as the rest were no doubt getting slaughtered. That was when he noticed mirrors began to form around them just as the one before but in mass. "No... It can't be... They have a Yuki with them?"

Realizing this was a bad situation, he managed to flicker out along with a few others before Haku appeared in the mirrors and his image shifted to every single one. As the ninja looked surprised, Haku put on his mask before glaring down at them. "You are attempting to kill Lady Mizukage, a hero to all of us with bloodlines in the mist. For that, I will spare none of you."

Senbon in mass began flying from each mirror, stabbing into them in rapid succession. Only a few were fatal as most managed to deflect his attack from their vital organs and face. Haku, however, didn't seem to care as he moved from mirror to mirror in quick succession. He was going to make sure all of them died before he was done.

Watching more of his clansmen fall before him, Deigo growled before he found Naruto, Samui and Zabuza surrounding him and the other two that had successfully escaped the mirrors. "Dammit... I didn't want to resort to this... But you guys are too late. We were simply decoys... We have our assassination squad waiting for Mei in the North and Raiga has already joined Mei acting as body guard."

Zabuza growled and was ready to strike when Naruto jumped before him. "Go and help Mei! Samui and I will deal with these guys! Your job is to make sure Mei is okay at all costs!"

Narrowing his eyes for a moment, hating the idea of being ordered by a kid even if he was a natural born leader, Zabuza didn't hesitate as he jumped down into the mist and sprinted towards the north, hoping he would be able to get there in time.

He could leave everyone here to deal with them, but he needed some back up. Running across Karui and Omoi, he grabbed both of them and dragged them as he continued on. "No time for explanations! They're decoys and the real hit men are waiting for Mei's arrival!"

Hearing that, Ryuu quickly chased after them as Karui and Omoi broke Zabuza's grip and ran with him, trying to keep up with the two swordsmen.

Immediately after he left, Kuro leapt before Deigo growling as she crossed her daggers in front of her. "You... You ordered the murder of my family along with Keiko... I will kill you!"

"KURO STOP!" Naruto yelled out as she lunged towards him in vein. The reaction was instant; she was suddenly knocked back by a powerful blast of chakra from Deigo before his right hand man stepped before him and with a katana in hand to finish her.

The blade was suddenly repelled as Talmor jumped before her, deflecting the blow only to take a blast of chakra from Deigo and was knock into Kuro. Coughing from the blow, Talmor stood before her holding his sword defensively. "Kuro... Don't try that again. He is much stronger then you are. It would take both of us to stand a chance."

"You will both stand back. He's mine." Naruto growled as he stepped forward with his sword unsheathed. "Both of you take on the guy with the katana. Samui, can you take care of the chick?"

"No problem. I'll finish her and come help you." Samui responded as she began strafing as she gave her target a grin, noticing that she was a little nervous.

Deigo smirked. This is what he wanted things couldn't be going better even if he planned it. Sure, he had given away the location of his assassins but that had been planned. In the chaos, Raiga was to strike Mei down without her being able to truly defend herself. "Fuuyin, Shu, lead them away from here. I want to fight him alone."

Looking at their leader for a moment, both nodded and separated in different directions. Samui growled and was about to order all of them to ignore them when Naruto stepped forward. "Lead the way, Deigo. I know this isn't where you want to fight me."

"Naruto, what are you doing?" Samui yelled as she tensed, rather wanting to take care of Deigo with a group effort instead of separating.

"Do as I said, Samui. If worse comes to worse, I will resort to drastic measures. Taking care of her is your first responsibility, same for the two of you. ...As I said Kuro, we will get them... But I am selfish, he is mine." Naruto's eyes flashed dangerously before he chased after Deigo, who took off and headed towards a nearby temple where the mist was weakened.

Gritting her teeth, Samui cursed before chasing after the Urameshi woman. Naruto was right. He had the Kyuubi if things were to get bad. Besides, she could easily get through this girl and get to Naruto if things go bad.

Kuro wasn't sure what to do. She really wanted to tear Deigo limb from limb... But she wasn't a match for him. Naruto was more capable then she was and he had the nine tails if he wasn't able to measure up. At least with Talmor, they could defeat the other Urameshi who no doubt helped in her clan's...

Straightening her face, she immediately went after her target, Talmor barely able to keep pace. He was part of her clan's murder and he would pay.

Catching him quickly, the mist failed to hinder her vision, Kuro growled angrily as her features almost seemed completely animalistic as she hunched over. "You... You will pay for what you did to my family!"

Clutching the sword at his side, Shu gazed at her for a moment before shaking his head. "Our clan wasn't really involved. The Yuki clan led the main offensive, we were merely clean up. To be honest, I found it rather hideous that they didn't even spare the women and children."

"It doesn't matter," Talmor spoke as he held his sword at the ready. "If you helped or not. You assisted in the genocide of an entire clan. By Mist law, your punishment is death."

Sighing as he truly didn't want to be part of this, the reason for his and Fuuyin's questioning Deigo earlier, Shu unsheathed his katana. "I can see I cannot persuade either of you. Fine, let's get this over with."

Before either could react, he was in-between them and kicked Kuro in the stomach before sweeping his sword towards Talmor. Barely being able to deflect it, he was easily set up for a quick jab to his face, sending him stumbling. Shu immediately followed up with a vertical slash but before he could even bring it down Kuro drove a dagger into his side.

Shu simply responded by grunting and rolling away only to see Kuro pouncing towards him, her entire body physically changing. Pulling the dagger out and grimacing, Shu gathered chakra to his palm and fired a concentrated blast of chakra into her chest.

Kuro went flying back from the blow; Talmor charged knowing he wouldn't be able to recover that quickly. Or at least he thought but it seemed Shu had prepared for this and held just enough chakra back for a weaker blast then the one he had delivered to Kuro. Being forced to deflect it stopped his charge and that was enough for Shu.

Clashing blades with the young swordsmen once more, Shu began to push Talmor back before he got his footing. With a loud grunt, Talmor easily threw him back with a single slash before driving it into the ground as he saw Shu impact a building.

Going through a few hand seals, he finished before water from the mist gathered before firing towards the impact crater that Shu had created from impact. The Water Fangs seemingly hit their target as the dust mixed with the mist as Kuro ran over. "Dammit! I wanted to..."

She suddenly screamed as a katana went through her chest before she was kicked back by Shu, who had somehow avoided Talmor's attack.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Talmor roared as he attempted to charge Shu. However as he reached him, Shu simply kicked his blade out of his hands before driving his katana into and through his chest.

His body slackening, Shu pushed him off before sighing and wiping the blood of his katana. "Sorry, but you forced me to do this. ...I don't think your wounds are too deep, so you both should live. You two were good, but I am an elite for a reason."

A loud howl suddenly caught both of their attentions before a hideous creature emerged from the mist. It looked as if it was a wolf but at the same time it obviously had limps that were designed to walk upright. A light brown, almost a dusty blonde, fur cover its entire body with shredded clothing covering some of her body.

"Shit, she transformed? I thought only adults of the Wolf clan could do that without moonlight!" Shu cursed as he looked over at the beast, instantly recognizing it as Kuro.

Roaring, Kuro in her newly transformed body lunged towards Shu. Missing her target as he leapt into the air and onto a nearby building, she tumbled into Talmor, who was absolutely terrified as he tried to scramble away from her.

Simply sniffing him once, she knew he wasn't a threat before Kuro suddenly turned and slashed into Shu's chest as he tried to strike her when she wasn't paying attention. Growling, she lunged onto him as he stumbled back and tackled him to the ground, knocking his katana out of his grasp.

Shu struggled against her sudden growth in strength and the cuts her claws delivered as they dug into his skin. She kept trying to bite his throat in an attempt to end the fight, but every time he managed to keep her elongated muzzle from its goal as pushed her off.

Finally succeeding as he rolled her off of him, he scrambled to get to his katana only for Kuro to jump onto his back and pin him to the ground. Knowing what was about to happen as his hairs on the back of his neck stood up; Shu used a burst of chakra and elbowed her in the face.

It only momentarily stunned her as she pinned him once more, but this time he was ready as he gathered chakra into his palms and pressed them against her torso. The blast of chakra blew her into the air, however in her transformed stated she easily recovered in mid air before landing on all fours.

Suddenly slipping as she hissed and grabbed at her chest, blood began to pour from the earlier wound she had received. Growling as her black eyes seemed to cloud over, she lunged towards Shu. All she saw was his back before he suddenly turned around, a sharp pain in her temple and her vision darkened.

Panting as the blood dripped from his katana, he looked down as the transformed girl began to revert back into her true form, her clothing barely doing anything to protect her dignity. But before he could do anything, his attention was turned as a sudden explosion caught his attention as a malevolent chakra filled the air and a deafening screech echoed through the small village.

Breathing heavily as he shook the blood from his blade, Shu shivered as he sheathed his blade in horror as he knew what the cause of the screech was. Without further hesitation, he ran into the mist, away from the power that summoned that horrible chakra.

* * *

Standing and facing Naruto at the top of the stairs leading to the temple, Deigo smirked as he looked down at the blonde. This was a perfect setting for the end of the last Uzumaki. The temple stood on top of a small cliff that the ocean had carved over millions of years.

"I find this a surprise, why would you choose to fight me by yourself? You had the advantage but you threw it away just for a chance at revenge, not a very wise choice for someone of your position." Deigo spoke as he grinned as the boy seemed to show no fear of him. He would definitely make sure he did before he took his life.

Naruto simply stood before him, drawing his sword as his eyes flickered crimson. "I'm not in this for a position of power or anything like that. I'm here for one and only one reason and that is to avenge my fallen brethren, the Wolves."

Soon as he stopped speaking, he immediately rushed up the steps. Leaping over the blast of pure chakra that came from Deigo's hand, Naruto brought down a heavy strike that was only deflected by a simple pebble Deigo had been carrying and flick towards his blade.

The sudden shock of his strike being stopped by such an object left Naruto wide open as Deigo drove his fist into his solar plexus. The air rushed out of his lungs from the blow and his world seemingly spun for a moment as he tumbled down the stairs.

Coughing as he slowly began to pick himself up from the bottom of the steps, he heard laughing as the familiar whirring sound was heard. On sheer instinct he rolled out of the way as a few shuriken were thrown in his direction. However, this simply brought his attention to Deigo, who know was holding onto his sword.

"This is an impressive blade. If I had to say, I'm pretty sure Kenshin forged this so there is no way I can destroy it." Deigo stated as he examined the blade for a moment before taking a single swing of it. "Pretty heavy and I'm sure there are a few abilities it has. Too bad you won't get to use them."

Before Naruto could even move to retake his sword, Deigo heaved the blade with all his strength, sending it clear over the temple and into the ocean below. His eyes widened as he tried to get past Deigo but had to jump back to avoid a well aimed blast of chakra.

Narrowing his eyes as the chakra blast didn't seem to lose strength from the distance as he was informed it would, Naruto took a defensive stance as he gagged his opponent. He was very capable of fighting without his sword; he just preferred using it as it was a gift and had been learning how to wield it properly since receiving it.

"Now boy, let's see how good you are without that blade of yours." Deigo smirked before running down the stairs, his chakra flaring around him.

Stepping towards his charge, Naruto jumped and flipped over Deigo as he was about to reach him before laying out and tried to connect with a kick. Deigo kept his forward momentum and took a few more steps and avoided the kick before grabbing onto Naruto as soon as he landed.

Naruto trapped his arms under his pits and secured them before pushing him back into the outer wall that surrounded the temple. Driving his knees into his taller opponent, Deigo covered his torso by pressing his body into Naruto's before using his weight advantage and throwing Naruto down to the ground.

Quickly standing back up, Deigo followed with a kick to the mid section before Naruto rolled away to keep from taking more. Using the temple wall to stand up, Naruto saw and opening and shot forward and caught Deigo with a knee to the chin and knocked him to the ground.

Jumping on top of him, avoiding the weak defense Deigo put up, Naruto began to rain punches down from on top. All Deigo could do was cover his face before he grabbed one of Naruto's arms and threw him to the side and stood back up, shaking his head to get rid of some of the butterflies.

"You know a lot of taijutsu for one that's so young. That's surprising as I've heard you are very fluid with that blade of yours." Deigo spoke as he took a more defensive stance. "Then again, I shouldn't be shocked as you were trained by the Raikage. It would make sense that the brute taught you how to fight well."

"...But, it won't be enough. I'll take this fight more seriously now." Deigo stance suddenly charged before he appeared before Naruto and his foot connected with Naruto's temple, sending his sprawling to the floor.

He tried to get back up, but Deigo was on top of him before driving his foot into his back a few times. He barely managed to use a substitution to avoid more damage as he tried to create some distance so he could use his family's jutsu once more.

However as soon as he started the hand seals, Deigo was on him and grabbed both his wrists, keeping him from forming more hand seals. "Don't think you can use that jutsu to save you boy. I heard all about you using it in the Konoha exams."

Grimacing for a moment as he tightened his grip on his wrist, Naruto suddenly grinned before Deigo yelled out as he released his gauntlets blades to slice in his hands and force him to let go before lighting started to surround his body.

In what seemed like a flicker of light, Naruto was before him, floating in mid air, and nearly smashed his skull in with a hammer fist from above. Using a replacement immediately to get some distance, Deigo was horrified as Naruto was suddenly on him and drove his foot down into his chest from above.

Grunting as he rolled away to keep the damage at a minimum, not wanting to give the boy a chance to use his sudden burst of speed and power to end the fight, Deigo prepared his chakra for a focused blast when Naruto appeared behind him. "Don't think about it!"

Being knocked back by a powerful, looping punch, Deigo barely managed to hold onto the chakra he was gathering when Naruto appeared before him to finish the fight. Releasing all the chakra he had been storing, he blew Naruto back as the lighting surrounding him was unable to protect him from a blast of pure chakra.

Slamming into the temple doors and through them, Naruto skidded across the floor as the lightning faded as he was unable to sustain it any longer. His entire body was numb as he tried to pick himself up. It was always a side affect he got from using it as he hadn't quite perfected it and only used it in desperate situations.

Before he could get back onto his feet, he was flattened out as Deigo slammed his foot into his spine before kicking Naruto in the skull. "Little runt! I'm going to enjoy making you suffer before I send you to meet your family and friends!"

Despite the continued stomps to his spine followed by kicks to his side and head, Naruto's eyes snapped open and began to bleed a dark crimson as Kyuubi's chakra began to flood into his system. He could feel the fox's anger, not that he paid it any heed as his own anger began to match his tenant's.

Beginning to notice a change in Naruto's physical appearance and a strange source of chakra, Deigo began to sense that something was wrong. It was odd, but it was as if he could literally feel the rage rolling off the boy's body. The fact that he had so much rage was astonishing, but he wasn't going to let this stop him and he drove his foot into his side, sending him through the back wall of the temple and into the raging ocean.

Naruto didn't even feel the kick or the waves that crashed into his body. He didn't even notice that he was sinking deeper and deeper into the ocean. All he knew was that the fox's chakra began to coat his entire body. Two tails had already formed as he bit into his thumb after going through a few hand seals, completely forgetting that he had some cuts already opened.

He was going to make sure this worked.

Sighing in relief as the boy didn't emerge from the water below; Deigo wiped the sweat from his brow before turning to exit the temple. "Well now that is taken care of, I just have to make sure the Mizukage bites the dust and we will be..."

He stopped near the end of his sentence as an intense and malevolent chakra swept around him like a powerful wave. It felt like what he felt from the Uzumaki moments before he kicked him into the sea, but it was far more violent and seemed to radiate an aura of dread he had never experienced before.

The aura was as if it was death itself as its entire will seemed bent on tearing him apart and bathing in his blood. He could only freeze as he looked behind him as a loud screech deafened him as eight enormous tentacles shot out of the sea and tore through the temple, bringing it down upon him.

Another screech echoed through the entire village as a titanic creature emerged from the water with its jaw bared and its eyes crazed as it looked onto its intended target as he emerged from the rubble. And on top of its head, Naruto stood with three tails flailing behind him.

"Tear him limb from limb but leave the torso for me!" Naruto yelled out as his demon influenced his voice greatly making it sound as if he was the fox demon himself.

Mother's tentacles quickly shot forward and wrapped around the stunned Deigo and bringing him to her jaws. "You... I should have seen this coming, Urameshi. Your clan has always been corrupt and power hungry. ...But today, that ends with you insect!"

In an instant, Mother let him drop for a brief second before four others suddenly shot out and wrapped around his arms and legs. Pulling slowly, it seemed as if she was smiling though being unable to physically do so made it difficult to determine if she was.

Within a blink of the eye, her tentacles pulled apart quickly and blood splattered onto her face. However, it was not as cleanly as she wanted as she had ripped him in two, limbs staying put due to the suction of tentacles. "Ah, it has been a while. I am sorry, young Naruto."

"It matters not; I was going to do the same." Naruto growled out as he saw how he was ripped apart and felt his anger ebb to a degree. "If you wish, you may feed on his corpse. I just need your eyes to see through the fog. Can you see a woman wearing the Mizukage attire? Her life may be in danger."

Searching through the mist, it took Mother only a moment to spot her. "She's near the east entrance of the village and is heading in. The Cloud and Mist ninja seem to be easily taking care of the assassins."

Jumping down, Naruto's crimson eyes burned as he was ready to head in her direction when he caught scent of a familiar stench. Blood, but it wasn't the blood of Deigo's. It was very familiar, but not one he could place as he only had heightened sense of smell when using the demon's chakra.

But before he could leave, Mother suddenly wrapped a tentacle around Naruto. He struggled for a second, but he felt the demon chakra drain from his system quickly as if something was sucking it away. Within a moment, he had nearly passed out and mother laid him down. "Forgive me, but your mother ordered me before she passed on to drain its chakra when you summon me. ...As I was able to do nothing more when the fox broke her seal."

Not being able to respond, having most of his energy drained away as well as the fox's chakra, Naruto's vision blackened as Mother picked up the pieces of Deigo and swallowed them whole. Looking back down at her newest summoner, she pulled forth a blade from the oceans depth and struck it down beside him before dispersing, heading back to her dimension but not before looking towards a young woman having watched what had happened.

Having watched what happened, Samui sighed as she jumped down next to Naruto and checked his pulse to make sure he was okay. Sensing nothing out of the ordinary, except for the fact that he was practically out of chakra, which in itself was an anomaly, she sighed again as she lifted him onto her back before drawing his sword from the earth.

But before she carried him off to safer place, she turned back to the ocean before closing her eyes. "You're becoming stronger every day. You might one day soon be stronger then Lord Raikage... And that's kind of frightening."

* * *

"Shit! ...God damn there is a lot of these guys!" Ao yelled as an Urameshi clansmen jumped from the building attempting to ambush him. However, he had seen him before he had even made a move to jump down onto him.

There was also something else he had seen even before the Urameshi could land he had been beheaded by a giant head cleaver as it was thrown from a distance. Taking a step back, the blade whirred by his nose, being only an inch away before it embedded into a wall. "DAMMIT! Zabuza that was too close!"

"Fuck off Ao! Where the hell is Lady Mei? Weren't you guarding her?" Zabuza yelled out as he pulled his sword out of the wall it had embedded itself in before kicking back an Urameshi that tried to sneak up on him right into Karui and Omoi, who easily took care of him despite how sudden he was thrusted onto them.

"She sent me and Lynn ahead to take care of these guys. She wanted to be alone with Raiga for some reason!" Ao suddenly yelled out before knocking an attacker back that nearly shot a blast of chakra at him.

Immediately after he knocked him back, he jumped as far back as he could as he suddenly went up in smoke as Ryuu arrived. "WHERE IS SHE? RAIGA IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED NOW!"

Ao simply nodded his head beyond the village's gate as he went through too many hand seals to count before a dragon of water burst from the mist and into an Urameshi clansman. "Just outside the gate! She said there was something she had to ask him!"

Zabuza cursed as he heard that and was ready to head to her position when he stopped, his widening in realization. "Wait a damn minute... YOU ALREADY KNEW?"

Lynn only grinned as she jumped into the combat, two swords suddenly springing forth from her sleeves and into the hearts of two Urameshi's. "Oh, we know all about Raiga. A little ice maiden told us."

Sudden mirrors began forming out of the mist before Haku appeared through one, carrying Kuro in his arms. "Fuck you Lynn."

"When and where hun? You know I've been dying to be with you for a while." Lynn teased for a moment as she loved to mess with Haku before seeing who he was clutching in his grip. "Fuck!"

"Will you take her then? I still have to go back and get Talmor as he was wounded too!" Haku yelled at her as this was not the time and place to be hitting on him.

Lynn simply nodded and quickly took Kuro, being one of the only two women present and not out cold, seeing her condition. "Go, we have it covered here! Make sure the Uzumaki's fine as well! With that chakra burst and Mother's screech who knows what is going on back there!"

Haku simply nodded and dispersed into his mirror, heading to get Talmor and check on Naruto.

* * *

About a mile from the village, Mei stood with her arms crossed as she listened to the battle happening within the village. "Sounds like Mother has been summoned. It should only be a matter of time till Naruto and Zabuza regain control of the village."

While Raiga was somewhat upset to hear that the Uzumaki was probably going to survive, having heard Mother's screech easily along with that burst of what felt like evil chakra, the plan still would work. He had a single sword out and was taking careful and calculated steps as he made it seem as if there was someone in the area.

"That is good news. It was best for you to hang back as it would have complicated things." Raiga stated he as was almost directly at her side, staying just a little behind so his sword could not be seen as it was poised to strike, not that it mattered as her eyes were closed.

Smiling as she always did, Mei shook her head before her smile suddenly began to fade as the mist began to disperse around her, the temperature beginning to rise dramatically. "Raiga, there is something I want to know..."

Before he could even react, her hand suddenly wisped by his throat with a kunai in hand. Raiga's eyes suddenly widened as he dropped his sword and both his hands went to his throat. Falling to his knees, blood began spurting from the wound Mei had opened. "While you're taking your last breaths... was it worth it to try and betray me?"

As he looked at her in horror as the blood refused to clot, Mei smiled viciously before licking his blood off the kunai. "I didn't think so. You should have known better then to fuck with me as I'm not looking after only myself, but the Mist as a whole."

"I sent you here because I knew you were trying to rebel. I didn't want you to join forces with Kisame to bring me down. ...But there was another reason I had you come here. I wanted to weed out those who were conspiring here to secede. And who better to find them then one who is conspiring against me as well?" Mei grinned as watched Raiga's eyes widened as the life began to fade, knowing what she had used him for.

Watching as he fell limply to the ground, his life finally fading, Mei turned before she casually strode to the village. She hoped there would be some left for her as she was rather pissed that it came down to this.

* * *

**A/N**: Well there is the chapter ten. We're getting near the end of the Mist saga with only a few more chapters to go.

What happened with Kuro was kind of sudden but it was necessary for Naruto's character developement and sets up an important aspect to one of the upcoming chapters. Don't worry for Kuro, she's still alive and is Naruto's pairing but... Well you will see next chapter.

The thing with Mei being related to Naruto is slight weird and I haven't explained it really well but her parents along with Naruto's grandparents... Were rather promiscuous and they were good friends... So yeah, Kushina and Mei happened to be fraternal twins with different fathers which gives Mei her dual bloodline and Kushina hers. ...Don't ask. I just wanted to have one of those weird, WTF things in this story.

The next chapter is finished but I'm going to wait until I finish the saga before putting the next chapter out since I'm stuck on tweleve and thirteen will end the saga.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed and if you happen to have any questions or just want to say hi leave a review and I will get back to ya.

Peace Out.


	11. Chapter 11

I Do Not Own Naruto

* * *

"So... Deigo is dead? I had little doubt he would last very long with his idealisms anyways." The leader of the Yuki, Zegram stated as the information had finally reached him. "However, what disturbs me is the Uzumaki's strength... How is he so strong at such a young age?"

"I'm not sure my lord... But we do know that he will be coming here soon and we must be ready for him and his allies. If we aren't we could very well end up like the Urameshi." The messanger/high ranking ninja within their clan stated as he knew it wouldn't be long till they came for them.

Nodding as this he knew ever since he heard of the Uzumaki heir, Zegram frowned as the boy was definitely a dangerous threat to him. "I see... He has already caused many of the clan's that have supported our efforts to back down from his exploits and the Rock has abandoned us as it does not want to start a war with the Cloud as they have never disarmed and train their shinobi for combat even when they are in the academy."

"So what are we going to do? We have lost all of our support and with the Urameshi clan down to a simple few not to mention they failed in assassinating the Mizukage... Is there anything we can do to prevent our annilation?" The same messenger stated, his face showing the fear he felt along with the regret of ever participating with the Urameshi in this coup.

Staying silent for a moment as he thought of what to do, Zegram closed his eyes before taking a deep breath. "Take the children and all men and women that cannot fight away and find another village to seek refuge in. Stay away from the Cloud and Leaf as they are close partners with the Mist and might not hesitate to send us away. The other great powers will more than likely accept us so head to them first."

"But my lord..."

"Just do it! Even if our forces perish we will live on through them as they are our future." Zegram ordered as the room temperature began to drop to a dangerous level as crystals began to form around him.

His subordinate stood there no longer and left the room in fright, fearing the man before them as he has more control over their blood then anyone in the history of their clan.

Looking over towards where the young shinobi had left, Zegram closed his eyes once more before softly speaking. "So this is how it ends. ...I should have known better but I so wished for our clan's freedom."

"I can grant you that... If you wish." A voice caught his attention, forcing Zegram up as ice began to form around him rapidly.

"Who is there?" Zegram demanded as he looked everywhere but he could not find a trace of the owner of the voice until he caught a shrouded figure in the dark corner of the room. "I demand you to show yourself or I will not hesitate to destroy you!"

"Like you could." The man stated before he slowly stepped out of the shadows, revealing his distinct black cloak. "Within this room there is so much explosive power that I could obliterate half of this land in a split second. So I would suggest you listen to me as I am not afraid of death."

Growling at the man, who still had not told him his name, Zegram was ready to draw his sword and prepare for battle as he could not see any explosives within the room to warrant such a threat. "Do not take me lightly, stranger! I may be resigned to my clan's fate but I will not back down from any challenge!"

"But you see, that is what I want to help you with." The black cloaked man stated as he walked entirely out of the darkness, revealing his long blonde hair that covered the right half of his face. "We have a common enemy in the Uzumaki and I can still give you a chance, for your clan's and this land's freedom if you just listen to me."

Grinning as he caught Zegram's attention, he grinned as this would be easier then he thought before a small bird of clay wiggled out of his hand. "Otherwise I'll set this little baby off and you can explain to everyone in the afterlife why you failed to protect them, yeah."

"It can't be..." Zegram spoke in shock as he began to recognize the man's features and finally understood what he was up against. "Alright... You have my attention, Deidara of the Rock."

* * *

"So how are they, Haku?" Mei spoke as she entered the room that they had designated the infirmary.

"I'm fine thanks to my furry friend." Naruto responded to Mei's question as he glared at Haku, who he was fighting with, who was refusing to let him even move from the bedding. "Talmor, however will need at least a month to recover as the blade went through and through, missing all of his internal organs. Kuro..."

As Naruto fell silent as he looked in her direction, Haku sighed and stopped struggling with him as he walked over her to Kuro and shook his head. "She is mostly fine. None of her wounds were too serious and will heal within the week..."

"I won't be to see out of my left eye again, even if another was transplanted." Kuro suddenly spoke as her visible eye opened, her left side of her face covered in bandages, also being awake but simply lying in bedding as she didn't want to cause a fuss unlike the blonde in the room.

Mei immediately frowned hearing her student's voice, knowing a lot of her pent up anger was coming to a head. Everything from no longer being able to see out of her eye from her family being murdered and Naruto trying to end their betrothment was beginning to surface.

But the amount of damage that it took to do that was not what she had expected. "How is that so? Unless the nerve endings were destroyed, it should be possible to transplant an eye from a proper donor. To do that with a single slash is almost unheard of."

Grimacing, Haku sighed as he glanced over at Kuro before turning his gaze back to the Mizukage as he began his explanation. "Unfortunately, that is indeed the case. The wound on her face is extraordinarily deep compared to the rest of her wounds. While it only scratched her skull, it cleanly went through the eye and destroyed some of the neural connections making it a rather futile to try a transplant. The only person I could think of that could be able to save her eye would be Senju Tsunade of Konoha."

Keeping her eyes on Kuro as Haku spoke Mei gauged her, slightly favored, student's reaction. To her dismay, Kuro didn't even fidget from what Haku had said. She simply held her cold gaze as her fist clenched tightly and that made her worry as it seemed Kuro was ready to blow.

It seemed it was apparent to the other occupant, that was awake, as Naruto sighed and moved to get up only for Haku to stop him. He responded by holding a dagger straight at Haku's throat, holding it steadily as he growled out. "Stop getting in my way. I am fine."

Doing as he said, Mei motioned Haku to come with her as she exited the room and he did as she asked. As soon as they left, Naruto checked where his sword was before strapping it to his back and acted as if Kuro wasn't in the room, despite her gaze falling onto him.

This act alone made her grind her teeth and clench her fist so tightly that blood began seeping from her palm. Her lone eye glowed furiously as she looked at his form. She finally couldn't take it. "Fine! Don't even act as I exist you son of a bitch! Just go home and leave this to the mist as you don't give a damn!"

"I care deeply for this land and I don't want to see anything bad happen to it and I definitely didn't want to see anything happen to you." Naruto responded softly as he slid his gauntlet on before finally turning to Kuro tiredly, worn down enough that his sadness could be clearly seen. "I obviously failed in my duties to protect you and I am sorry. But my job is still not finished as I have to finish this so I can't take care of you."

Biting back a snarl, Kuro turned away as she couldn't look into his eyes. His eyes made it difficult to think clearly as the depth of his caring and determination shone through them despite the sorrow within. "What does it matter? My family is dead, I've lost an eye and worst of all you refused to stay with me! What else do I have?"

Sighing as he hung his head for a moment, he moved to stand beside her make-shift bedding and knelt down besides her. "I didn't want you to be betrothed to me because I didn't want to take you from your home as you are happy here... Even without your family, you have friends that love you and a sensei that cares deeply for you. Whether or not you choose to see them... That is your problem. I can only help you if you let me."

"I can understand your anger about everything that has happened, your anger towards the Urameshi that took your eye and Yuki for helping eradicate our families. I can even understand your anger towards me, but let me tell you something. ...I care for you as well, but I cannot allow myself to get close." Naruto said, laying his hand on her chest and coasting it to her eye, wiping the tears building.

However, his hand immediately pulled back as he stood up and turned from her as she turned to him. Looking up at him as he began to head towards the door, Kuro's eye began to widen from the sight of his retreating back and she reached out for him to stop him. "Naruto... Wait!"

"I just can't get close to you... I can't stand losing someone else I found myself closer to. ...It would break what is left of who I once was." Naruto said as he held back the tears as he thought of Rika.

This made Kuro look at him and slowly began to see why he seemed so much more distant when they met in the Mist. Something happened between then and now and caused him to close of his heart from the outside and now she knew what that was. Someone he cared for deeply died... But why would that make him...

"I'm sorry Kuro, but I have to go. I'll... I'll see you later." Naruto said, unable to say what he wanted and exited the room, passing by Mei as she waited at the door. He didn't bother even too look at her as he found the exit and left the building.

Watching him leave, Mei sighed deeply. The boy was so different from what he was a few years before when she first saw him. He was happy then, maybe a little downtrodden but now he was something different.

(Flashback)

_"Why am I here again? I'm not apart of your guard detail, I'm not of high position within our village and I've just become a gennin!" Naruto complained as he glared at E, not understanding why he had been brought along just before their group met with the Mist leaders._

_"Ah, this must be the boy you've been telling me about." Mei stated as she greeted E before smiling as she looked down at the young boy, her normal smile growing a little._

_Naruto refused to respond, not sure what to think of the woman despite seeing that she was wearing the traditional Kage hat. He simply gauged her and didn't like what he saw before he stood besides... He didn't have anyone to stand by as E would hit him for showing any weakness and Yugito... She would just beat him as she had been becoming rather nasty towards him as of late._

_E simply nodded as he glanced at Naruto before turning his attention back to Mei. "Indeed. He is the son of Kushina and Minato."_

_"This is the Uzumaki heir? He's nothing but a little brat." Zabuza commented looking at the kid and frowning as he didn't look too impressive._

_This, however, immediately caught Naruto's attention and caused him to dislike this man. Tightening his hands into fists, his eyes flashed dangerously as chakra around him began to build up. "Do not underestimate me, ever! Otherwise I'll make you pay for such a mistake."_

_It was silent for a moment, everyone simply looking at Naruto before a chuckle interrupted everyone's gaze and brought Naruto's show to an end. An elderly man with two somewhat feral looking gaurds took a step forward. "I dare say you are very much like your mother."_

_This suddenly brought Naruto's rage to a halt as he looked at the old man with something akin to shock. "You... You knew my mother."_

_The old man simply chuckled even more before shaking his head. "Boy, I am your mother's father. I hope I would know her. Then again in my aging years I can't remember anything or anybody too well... Who are you again?"_

_Still in shock, Naruto looked over at E, who was now laughing with many others around, trying to solve what was going on when the old man turned to E and Mei. "If you would excuse me, I believe I would like to take my grandson for the duration of your stay here, Lord Raikage."_

_Looking over at Naruto, E nodded before pushing the boy forward as he was too shocked to do anything for himself right now. "He's yours till my leave. We'll pick him up on the way back. Shi, go with him so he'll be comfortable."_

_Still not sure what the hell was going on, Naruto was looking around for some sort of assistance when Shi stepped behind and began pushing him forward, following the elderly man, who was chuckling even louder at the boy's shock._

_Mei's smile only increased before she shook her head. The boy was something._

(Flashback End)

Smiling a little at the memory yet wondering just how much the death of the little girl caused his personality to drastically shift, Mei kept the smile up as she entered the room to see Kuro, tears trailing down her cheeks. "Why? Why won't he just accept me and let me in? Is that too much to ask?"

Sitting beside her, Mei embraced the girl into a hug. She needed it right now and while showing affection, while a strong point if she was feigning it, was rather difficult for her but she loved the girl as if she was her own daughter. "He can't just yet... But someday... He will come for you. There is something he must do first."

Mei hadn't expected what she had said to go down well but now comforting a crying girl that was using her shoulder as tissue made her feel rather uncomfortable. Sighing, she held the girl tighter and patted her on the back, hoping it worked.

'Uzumaki... You better not let her down again. I will make you suffer if you do.'

* * *

"Hey, kid. Are you sure you want to go through with this?" Zabuza commented as he followed Naruto as they left the village a few hours before, following the information they had received from one of the surviving Urameshi ninja they had interrogated, and were nearing where he had said they would be.

There was no response as Naruto continued forward at a moderate pace, not wanting to exert too much energy. Haku, who followed as Mei had taken Kuro and Talmor with her to the Mist for optimal medical treatment, sighed at this. "Lady Mei did say she would send reinforcements so we could finish this and it would only take a week for them to arrive. It would be much wiser to wait for..."

"We will not." Naruto immediately responded without hesitation. "They have lost all of their support and we shall strike now when they are weakest. If we wait any longer they may gather more support. I've heard of the influence the leader of the Yuki clan possesses and there is no doubt that he was the one that got the support their clans had originally and it is highly likely that within a week's time he could gather a new force to oppose us."

"So it would be best if we strike now or we could lose a great opportunity." Samui commented as there was a tactical advantage in attacking now. "However waiting for reinforcements could very well equal out what they could regather in a short amount of time. We also need someone for recon to see what their forces are this time before we attack. We can't head in straight like we did last time otherwise we could suffer further casualties."

Not speaking for a moment, Naruto finally nodded as Samui made a valid point. "Alright, we'll send someone ahead and see what their forces are... Omoi, go on ahead and scout out what you can. Be on guard and keep aware of your surroundings, however. The Yuki are famous for being fast and hard to detect and quickly surround their opponents in a flash."

As they came to a stop while Omoi continued on ahead, heading to the small village a few miles before them where they had heard the Yuki clan was holding up. "We'll set up camp here so he won't have any problems in finding us. Karui, you'll be on first look out."

Karui smiled lightly and nodded as she wasn't as fatigued or injured as the rest as Zabuza, Lynn and Ao had taken most of the brunt force while she, Omoi and Ryuu dealt with the clean up. "No problem. You should still be resting as even with the fox you still aren't a hundred percent."

"I haven't been a hundred percent in a while, Karui. Something is always screwing me over and keeping me from full capacity... Remember I broke my leg a few days before we headed to Konoha for the exams." Naruto replied with a slight grin as he wasn't in the greatest mood and she was attempting cheer him up.

However, Ryuu saw this conversation going in a direction he didn't like and growled at the blonde. "Wait a minute... Are you telling me you weren't at full strength when you fought me during the exams?"

Turning to the explosive swordsman, Naruto gave him a simple, nonchalant shrug as there was no other way to put it. "I had broken two ribs the day right before our fight dealing with Gamabunta and it slowed me down a little in our match. I was just glad that was all I had going in as a week before I had severe lacerations all over my arms and nearly shattered all the bones in my right hand from trying to learn the last jutsu Jiraiya taught me."

"Good lord kid... I've never seen a ninja as injury prone as you." Zabuza commented before grinning at the boy as he liked his work style. "Now if you were just a full fledge ninja of the mist I could teach some real intense combat training. I would love working with someone like you that could recover from practically anything in just a few days."

As Samui shivered as she had learned of Zabuza's sadism over the course of their time there and had a good idea of what he was thinking about, Naruto gave Zabuza a sadistic grin of his own. "Oh, but I would have to wonder about your durability. I have a tendency to wound my teachers during intense spars... Just ask Lord Raikage."

"Yeah, but you were also in the hospital for the next two weeks after doing so despite your incredible recovering." Karui responded saving Zabuza from doing so as his skin lost some color at the revelation that he had actually hurt one of the strongest ninja in the world as he would have great difficulty pulling off such a feat... Even if the man was going easy on him.

"Get to work." Naruto barked in a mocking manner as he gave Karui the bird before rolling his eyes and taking a deep breath as his gaze landed on Haku, who seemed to be glowering at him. "Haku, can I have a word with you?"

Seeing Naruto motion his head and leading him away from the group, Haku followed and waited till they were far enough from the others before he spoke. "What the hell is going on? Ever since we've dealt with the Urameshi you have started to treat me like shit and I'm quite fed up with it!"

"That was before I saw what you can do... Yuki." Naruto commented darkly as he turned and gazed at the ice wielder with narrowed eyes.

Haku growled as he had just learned before this mission that he was related to Yuki clan and did not want that brought up. "What the fuck? I was never a part of their clan! Yes, I possess their blood and even their ability but I was never apart of them! My mother was part of the Mist branch of our family before the bloodline purge happened fifteen years ago and fled the village before finding a place and a man she though she loved..."

"I understand that... I don't hold you responsible for what happened to my family or Kuro's clan." Naruto interrupted as he knew of the bloodline purge and what happened during that time. "But you are still one of them and I don't trust you... They are still your family... Your only family and blood runs thick."

Staring at him for a moment, pissed that he was interrupted from proving he wouldn't betray them for people that shared the same blood as he did, Haku closed his eyes before nodding. "Fine... But you will not have to worry about me. My loyality is to Lord Zabuza as he is the only family I have."

Gazing at Haku for a moment, Naruto let out a deep sigh. "Loyality isn't the issue... When we arrive, they will manipulate you and what I worry about is they may succeed."

Opening his eyes and frowning, Haku shook his head before turning from Naruto. As he began to walk away, he spoke in a low but staught tone. "You will not have to worry about me and I will prove that before this is all over."

With that, he left and went back to camp. Naruto simply kept his sight on Haku as his figure disappeared into the forest before he slowly headed back. Haku had already proven himself.

* * *

"Alright... From what we know they have roughly forty shinobi ranging from chunin to elite status. Each and every one of them is from the Yuki clan so it seems that they have not gone out and recruited anyone but their forces still outnumber us nearly six to one and that isn't counting the head clansmen Zegram." Naruto retold what Omoi had stated as they were going over their plans before they struck.

"Not only that but they are ready for us and have a four guards in the north sector, five in the west and six in both the eastern and southern sectors while the most elite are hovering around the center of the village. There is no doubt they are protecting their clan's head... But it seems they have evacuated all citizens, gennin and lower members of their clan so we don't have to worry about civilians getting hurt this time." Omoi added key points Naruto had missed.

Nodding as those were crucial points as well, Naruto looked over at the small force he had and had really wished he had waited for reinforcements. He wanted to have a five prong attack were the others would attack the four sectors and draw attention to them to allow the final group with him slip in and take care of Zegram. But with this amount of...

"Whose there?" Naruto growled out as he drew his blade before him just as Zabuza and Ryuu did temporarily before the latter two realized who it was.

"Well it seems Lady Mei was right... You were about to attack without us, weren't you?" Lynn smirked before she blew a light kiss at Haku, who grimaced lightly as she sat next to him before she whispered into his ear and whatever it was that said had made him blush feverishly.

"You arrived faster than I expected. ...Lady Mei forced you to come back soon as you got home?" Zabuza asked Ao as he moved over to them, seeing that they had been out guarding Mei this entire time.

"She doesn't trust that many of us and for good reason... So she sent us back with an Anbu squad. She would have sent Chojuro and the rest of the swordsmen instead but she kept them for her own protection after Raiga's betrayal. ...They are about the only people she trusts right now outside of us here." Ao tiredly responded.

Zabuza could only nod as while Mei was well liked throughout the village, there was that faction that opposed everything she did and was doing everything they could to throw her out of office in attempt to bring the Mist back to the way it was before. "Alright, that raises our forces for seven to fourteen. Now we're only being outnumbered three to one."

Thinking for only a moment at what he had, Naruto felt a little better now about their odds. "That will be enough... They are strongest in the center of the village so the Anbu should penetrate through northern sector as that is where they are weakest. Once they drawn their attention, Samui I want you take Ryuu through the west. Ryuu should gather a lot of attention as things start going boom over there."

As Ryuu looked indignant for only a moment, Naruto turned to the few left he had not given orders to yet. "Lynn, you and Ao will lead attacks from the east and south respectively. Take Karui and Omoi with you for combat support... Haku I want you to act as in field scout and aid whoever is in the most need."

"And that would leave me and you to sneak through and get to central unabated to Zegram to quickly finish this with as little casualties as possible." Zabuza finished for Naruto, quickly seeing what the boy was planning.

Naruto simply nodded before he added in what Haku had informed him off. "Yes... We also cannot use the mist to hide in for this fight. It will only aid them in battle as they manipulate any moisture and use if for their own purposes. The less water they have at their disposal the less effective they are."

As this the mist shinobi with their faces visible frowned, with the exception of Haku as he only nodded, Zabuza simply rubbed his temple as that happened to be his signature technique. "Great... So this is going to be so fun... Our best attacks can come back to haunt us later if we use them."

"That is how it is, Lord Zabuza." Haku stated as he looked over at this master. "You must also be prepared for many of my attacks I possess the same blood as they do. So whatever you do you cannot allow them to surround you otherwise it is almost certainly over."

Groaning a little more as he had difficulties when he trained Haku and felt the boy was stronger than he was, Zabuza slowly stood up as his eyes twitched. "Son of a..."

"Alright... Let's get this over with." Naruto commented as he stood up as well, looking over at the small group assembled before him before turning to the village below, ignoring the string of curses coming from the Demon of the Mist.

Something just didn't feel right... He wasn't sure what it was, but there was something wrong as he couldn't kick the feeling away. He had complete confidence in Omoi's ability as he knew his friend would not let a single detail escape him... But this feeling he had in his gut...

It was like someone was waiting for him... And he didn't like that at all.

* * *

**A/N**: Well, there is the chapter. This one kind of escaped me for a while since I wasn't sure what I wanted to do or where I wanted to head with this arc but now with a clearer picture I have a better view on what to do. …Still, don't expect updates to be really quick. I'm on Z Fox at the moment and that is my brain child for now.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter and if you have any questions or comments please let me now. Peace Out.


	12. Chapter 12

I Do Not Own Naruto

* * *

Having penetrated the eastern sector of the city, Omoi frowned as this was far too easy. Gazing over at Lynn for a moment, he turned and looked onto the street and cursed lightly. "We either caught them in a shift change or they have increased their guards. There are now eight of them here."

"Great... Eight Haku's. ...Now that's rather interesting." Lynn started annoyed at first before a perverse blush as her mind quickly went to the gutter, forcing Omoi to glare at the woman.

"Son of a... And here I thought I was the most perverted on this mission." Omoi grumbled as while he loved thinking about women in that way, he didn't really need to be thinking of that in a battle situation!

"Pft... You're still a kid. You don't even know what it means to be perverse yet." Lynn grinned at him for a moment before becoming a little more serious as she took a quick peek out into the street. "Okay... There is only four out there. Are any of these guys the elites you mentioned?"

Taking another look out before returning to their hiding spot in the alley, Omoi shook his head. "Two of them do. The rest don't have the elite marker so they probably easier to take care of. ...And there is eight. The others are well hidden and waiting."

"Marker?" Lynn questioned as she didn't notice anything out of the ordinary about their attire or appearance.

"The two elites have a small snow flake tattoos on the palm of their right hands. After observing them for these last few days I noted that only those that are highly skilled or the family of their leader possess such a marking." Omoi explained having noted any odd features he had caught when he had been spying on them.

Slightly impressed at his observational skills, Lynn motioned her head back out to the streets while staying in their hiding spot. "Show me were the elites are and I'll take care of them. Just keep the little buggers off of me."

"That's going to be difficult... The male is clearly visible and is the one directing the others as if they are prepared for an attack. ...The other is the woman and she is cleverly hidden. ...There is a shop about a block behind us with a rather unique mirror within it." Omoi stated as he made sure he knew were every single enemy was located at.

Frowning for a moment as that was a Haku tactic, except he transformed into whoever passed by him, Lynn simply nodded. "So she's hiding in the mirror just like Haku does? Got it..."

"No... The ice mirror is simply a decoy rigged with explosive tags. The real one is within the store, posing as a merchant to make it seem like there are civilians still about." Omoi cut her off before becoming deathly quite as one of the Yuki clan members passed by, stopping only for a moment and looking in the alley.

Once he had left, Lynn's eyes dangerously narrowed as it indeed felt like they had expected this kind of attack. "So any and all civilians are actually clan members in disguse... Fuckers... They're all just like Haku."

Ignoring her comment as he got along well with the ice wielder, Omoi peeked his head around the crates they were hiding behind before his eyes widened. "Oh sh... Jump!"

Lynn and Omoi immediately leapt away from their hiding spot as several senbon pierced into the crates they were hiding behind. A split second later droplets of water splattered from the small packet that was tied to each and the droplets formed into more senbon and were sent flying towards the two in mid air.

Drawing his katana, Omoi channeled his chakra to it before he began to prempetively swing towards the ice needles heading straight for him. But with each swing a shock wave was sent off, repelling the projectiles from both him and Lynn.

Catching where her attackers were, Lynn wasn't going to let this chance go by as Omoi defended her as well. Pulling out two thick yet otherwise ordinary chakrams with a handle for a transition from long range to short range from behind her, she hurled them towards her attended targets with near blinding speed. Despite that both managed to evade the chakrams as the other two joined in the attack, diving at Omoi and Lynn from above just as they were about to land.

Lynn grabbed the outstretched arm and used him to propel herself onto the wall before bouncing off it and onto the other building, determined to get her chakrams back. The one that dived at Omoi wisely threw his senbon before he got in close to take the katana out of the picture.

It worked as Omoi had to deflect them and before he could use his katana against the Yuki, the said man had tackled and drove him into the ground. However, blood began to pour from his lip as Omoi pushed him off, pulling out a four inch serated knife he kept on him at all times.

But before he could get back onto his feet, he was in yet another struggle as the partner of the other Yuki had kicked away his katana and tied to stab a kunai down into his chest. Omoi managed to block the strike by slamming his forearm into the young man's forearm but the force had jolted his knife from his grip, forcing him to grab on to his wrist to keep the kunai from plunging down into him.

To make matters worse the Yuki that were disguised moments before had thrown away their attire and were coming to aid their brethren. And to cap all of this off he was losing his struggle as the guy was overpowering him and he didn't have the athelicism to get his feet under and kick the guy off of him.

Just looking off the side while keeping his attention firmly on his struggle, Omoi caught sight of his katana beside him. It was just out of arms reach for him but it was still possible for him reach his knife...

A sickening thud was heard and blood splattered onto around him, Omoi didn't waist any time as he threw the man off of him and rolled over to his katana, grabbed it and thrusted it into the charging Yuki's chest. Feeling a little sicken as it was a young woman that fell limp from his strike, he grimaced ever so slighty as he removed his sword from her heart.

Dropping down next to him, noticing the disgusted look but left it alone for now, Lynn ripped her chakram out of the other body. "That's four down... Four more to go and that is including the elites..."

"Don't remind me." Omoi growled as he had just struggled with the two he had just dealt with. But as he looked around his surroundings, he dropped his head. "We have to get out of this alley now."

Looking up at the buildings above them, Lynn began to curse as mirrors slowly began to form before them. Without second thought, the two dashed for the exit. But just as they did, two more Yuki appear but before anything could be done, Lynn drew her arm back and tossed one of her chakram.

As it near the two, who were ready to evade, the reason for its thickness was explained as it suddenly seperated and scattered into five different individual chakrams. Neither was expecting this and were gashed by the projectiles as they ripped through them with ease.

But just as Lynn and Omoi moved to pass by them, the latter of the two noticed the slight grin on their face before his eyes widened in realization on what just happened.

Without a second thought, he threw himself into Lynn and into the crates they had been hiding earlier just as the two Yuki went up in flames, spreading throughout the alley. He bit his tongue as the flames washed over him but he used his back to shield Lynn from the blast.

Nearly collapsing once it was over, Omoi barely managed to roll over before yelping in pain as he rolled his butt onto one of Lynn's chakrams, who immediately removed the painful sore. "Are you alright?"

Looking up at her for a moment, having a difficult time hearing her as his ears were still ringing, he cringed as while his clothing was resistant to fire... He wasn't. "I could very well be worse... I thank god for having fire resistant clothing right now!"

Repressing the urge to giggle at his enthusiasm despite just having his ass nearly seared off, Lynn immediately caught the whirl in the air and jump before Omoi, using her other chakra to deflect the senbon aimed towards them before realizing they had been entrapped. "Shit! They got us in their dome!"

"Good..." Omoi commented as he slowly picked himself up, using the wall to do so. "This alley keeps them from using it to its fullest potential and there is only one way they can rotate through them. ...I won't make things any easier but it is better then having completely entrapped. ...And I already see a flaw in this attack."

Frowning at him, having sparred against Haku and have had this attack used on her before and was unable to escape or even stand up to him when he did, Lynn was about to ask when Omoi picked his katana from the concrete. "Attack straight ahead and try to break through. I'll keep you cover from behind and above."

Trying to figure out what he was planning, Lynn gathered her scattered chakrams quickly and reformed them back into one. The onslaught began soon as she did but to her surprise blades of what seemed to be pure chakra coated around her and deflected those from above and behind just like Omoi had said...

Realizing this was his doing, she took care of the projectiles before her, deflecting them with her two chakrams. She quickly was upon the mirrors and just as she made it the male Yuki slid out of the mirror to knock her back. However, sparring so many times with Haku had paid off and she had expected this and on reflex, she slashed her chakram straight at him and cut through the kunai he was weilding.

Taking his surprise, she drove the other chakram into his throat before slicing through and tossing him to the side. But as soon as she did, she took a kick to her face from the woman elite and was quickly pinned against the wall as she quickly brought out a kuna to end it.

Grimacing as this was it, she was prepared for it when splattered upon her face and she looked at the woman in fright, seeing Omoi's katana pierce through her temple. Watching the woman slump to the ground, she turned to Omoi with an astonished yet irrational glance. "What the... Who in the hell throws a sword in the middle of a battle?"

"I do as do a few other cloud shinobi." Omoi answered simply as he withdrew the blade from the elite's head. "And I do it very well. No one can match my aim when they release their blade."

"Maybe because no one ever thought of throwing their sword away!" Lynn yelled at Omoi, thankful that he had saved her life but at the same time she could see how absolutely insane it was to throw one's main weapon away.

Omoi only shrugged as he had been told that a thousand times no matter what the results of such a skill had shown. "We've still got a job to do... Let's go."

Looking at him incredulously as she still hadn't gotten over the fact that he threw his sword to save her life, Lynn continued to complain as she followed after him.

* * *

"Okay... There are few more here then what Omoi had stated." Karui stated aloud as she and Ao were slowly sneaking through the back streets and alleys, somewhat irritated that his information wasn't completely accurate as it normally was.

"They must have figured we were coming and beefed their guard. These kind of things happen often on missions like these, espescially when your target knows you are coming." Ao commented as he figured there was going to be a few discrepancies on the information they were given.

They had plunged deep into the southern sector, having been able to go undetected thanks to Ao's implanted Byukugan. Now they just need to make enough of a ruckus that it would draw more towards them and allow Naruto and Zabuza to easily pierce through the village and make it to their target.

Making it to the main road of the village, Ao frowned as he gazed at the few patroling the streets here. "Everyone here is a Yuki including the ones dressed as civilians. However, I see there are six elites stationed within this area. ...We might want to keep this from going into the main..."

A loud explosion ripped through the village and Ao began to twitch as he knew exactly who had caused it. "Never mind... Most of them are heading to the west to see what the hell Ryuu is doing over there."

"It's better then dealing with all of them." Karui responded before she slid behind the disguised Yuki, who turned to see the explosion, and without warning she plunged her katana through his back.

Ao ever so slightly nodded in aggrement as the less they had to deal with the better as he was sure Ryuu could handle himself espescially with Samui around for support and followed Karui's lead as the surprised gurgle caught the attention of one the guards nearby. He easily slipped behind him and quickly restrained him before his life ended with a quick slip of a kunai.

"Intruders!" One of the Yuki yelled, pretty much sounding the alarm as the others turned to see what he was yelling at and saw Karui and Ao.

"Well, now won't this be fun." Ao grinned as he dropped the Yuki's corpse and gazed at the others, each of whom looked rather alarmed at this sudden attack.

Karui only grinned as their slow reaction made it easier for her to deal with as she charged her katana with some of her chakra before sprinting towards the closest to her. Before the could react her katana only seemed to pass by him, giving him a small cut. But in the next moment, blood began to sputter from his rib cage as he fell to his knees, his eyes widening as a deep gash opened in his chest.

She quickly was forced to dodge as senbon began to pelt where she had been as the others snapped out of their shock. Skidding against the ground to regain traction, she burst forward only for Haku to appear out of nowhere and knock her to the side before barely being able to jump back and away from an icy explosion as crystal shards began to spew from the source.

Barely managing to deflect the shards, a few cutting into her flesh, Karui scrambled to get back to her feet. But as she did, Karui cried out in pain grabbed her left arm snapped it from her blade. Ignoring the pain of her bone nearly break from the pressure, she caught her katana with her other hand and drove into the man's gut before smashing her left side into his chest, knocking him into the ground.

She ducked underneath the woman that came after her and rolled of to the side, her blade being deflected by a single senbon. She hissed out loud as three pierced into her back as the woman faded away into a mirror, she picked herself up only to notice something very, very disturbing.

She was stuck in the center of a mass of icy mirrors.

Glancing around for Ao or Haku, she noted that ao had his hands full with two clansmen while Haku was staring down a single man, Karui looked at her opponent within the mirrors to see the elite marker on the palm of her hand, who was grinning confidently. "Let's see what you can really do now that you've got someone of true skill before you."

Instead of panicking, Karui gripped her katana with her right hand as her she formed a half seal of tiger, making the elite before her frown a little. "I must thank you for trapping me in here away from my allies... Now I can use my most powerful attack!"

The woman immediately jumped her mirror and began to throw her senbon from all angles, but a small swell of flames spew from Karui's mouth and connected with her blade. The moment that happened, the flames seem to bend to the blade, engulfing it, and flowed around her movements as she went to deflect the needles.

It was like a dance. The way she moved it was as if she was dancing with the flames around her, using them to melt the senbon made of ice while deflecting the real ones. And having watched this, the elite's eyes widened as she recognized exactly what Karui was. "You're a Gypsy? I thought they had died out long ago!"

Seeing that the elite had stopped for a moment, Karui grinned as momentarily stopped and held her blade before her, all the fire concentrating and focusing upon it. "Not entirely... My mother's blood runs through my veins and before she left from this world she taught me everything she knew!"

"Gureto-en no Mai!(Dance of the Great Flame)"

Twirling her sword, the flame burst back to life and began following the trails she made. The flames nearly completely surrounded her, forming almost a completely sphere with a small gap here and there as she picked up here speed, twirling her entire body as she closed her eyes, concentrating on only her movement.

Knowing that if she did nothing and let this happen that she would be in trouble, the elite began attacking from each mirror once more, using a variety of projectile weaponry and foregoing creating anything out of ice. But still everything was either blocked or avoided and to add further to her amazement she could see that she wasn't even paying attention to her at all!

Growling as she would not be humilated by a chunin of any village, she was ready to attack when the flames began to rise around Karui and, just like she was, began to dance. Unsure what to think of this, she prepared to release the mirrors as they no longer held any value when it happened.

Focusing chakra to her blade as she had done before, the flames followed the paths of the shock waves created as Karui's amber eyes snapped open. The flames violently roared as they slashed towards the mirrors and literally tore through them with no difficulty.

Shocked as she had never seen any flames hot or strong enough to destroy the mirrors, she was overwhelmed by the flames as they overtook her dome and lifted into the sky as they finally gave out. She was badily sliced and burned but the attack had weakened on impact with her mirrors but to her horror she gaze up and into Karui's eyes, seeing the flames still dancing within them.

Landing, Karui flicked the blood from her blade as the body of the Yuki fell behind her, cleaved in two seperate pieces.

* * *

Haku had snuck in behind the Anbu, who were having no difficulties so he came through the main street, being able to do so as he was a Yuki and no one questioned where he was going. That was somewhat odd...

He had thought they would be able to recognize one of their own but yet they had not stopped him once he got to the center of the stronghold. They instead treated him like he was one of them and off to a new post or to get new orders. Not a single one seemed to think otherwise.

Sure, he was a Yuki by blood and he possessed many phyiscal traits their clan shared, a pale skin and feminine features, but to go this unnoticed without some sort of disguise outside of their clan's tradition robes suggested they did not expect a Yuki to be among the Mist's forces. Yet they had to know...

A few of the Urameshi survived and he noted a few were there in the center plaza. They had to have seen his abilities and knew that he was of the Yuki blood. So why was it that none of them were alarmed when he came through?

Was there something going on?

Shaking his head, for he was letting this get to his head, Haku focused on the mission he was given. To act as a field medic and to assist anyone that seemed to be in any danger. He would not fail in his duties and prove the Uzumaki that he was nothing like these shinobi they were to exterminate...

Even if they were of his blood.

Hearing a loud roar from the western portion of the city, Haku had to roll his eyes. The only reason he didn't get along with Ryuu like he did with Talmor or Kuro was the fact that he was an asshole that had to do things his way, a personality trait within Naruto he had begun to note too. In this case he was doing his mission correctly and probably causing mass panic within the center of the village but still...

Knowing Ryuu wouldn't need any help, at least just yet, Haku frowned and figured he would check on Ao and Karui. He had nothing against Omoi, having become rather good friends with him during the duration of this mission... He just didn't want to see Lynn at the moment.

For she would undoubtly start talking how she want to ravish him and suck on his eight inch... How in the world did she even know his size? What the hell? Did she spy on him while taking showers or something?

Despite ranting in his head that Lynn was a pedophile that seemed interested in screwing him, Haku's attention snapped into gear and noted what was going on before him. Seeing Karui quickly heading straight into a set trap, his eyes widened for he realized she could not see it.

Using the moisture around him, he created a mirror besides him and a mirror to where he predicted Karui would be. By doing this he would decrease the time it required for him to cross such a distance for the mirrors acted as the points and allowed him to transport himself there. In basic terms it was almost similar to the replacement technique except he was transfering himself to a mirror in the distances.

Just as he made it to her, he shoved her out of the explosion's radius. In his rush he had missed the symbols on the tags, however, and cursed once he realized that they were ice explosions and shards scattered among him. Thanks to his symbosis with ice and water he was able to dissolve a few back to water but it still cost him.

Taking a few to his arms, he dropped to the ground and reduced the amount he would be hit by. A few punctured into his side, but they were shallow due to the distance. Still they would hamper him slightly and he wouldn't be able to just remove them without some time to bandage the wounds. For now the shards stemmed the bleeding much like a plug.

Growling, annoyed at taking such injuries and for missing such a detail, Haku's eyes narrowed noting that Karui was trapped within a shell of mirrors but to his surprise she was handling it very well. In fact it seemed entrapping her in fact benefited her abilities and made her that much stronger.

Feeling confident she would handle this opponent, he withdrew a few senbon and took care of one trying to attack Ao form being, the needles penetrating the back of her skull before Ao called out to him in appreciation. "Thanks Haku!"

His heart ached at the feeling of killing someone of his blood, but he would endure. He hated death anyways so this was no different but he felt some strange connection to those that he felled.

Shaking his head, knowing his cover was blown now and they would have to take care of those in the area before moving on, Haku focused on a few trying to enter the dome to help their outmatched comrade. Slipping in between them, catching both off guard from his speed, he flicked his wrist and a multitude of senbon pierced into their throats.

Sighing, the ice weilder could only shake his head before ducking beneath the shattering ice and flames above him. His eyes widened seeing the mirrors shattered but that was before he caught Karui's movements above and was simply shocked. The way she moved with the flames along her mesmorized him.

It seemed like all those times he would go to the river and dance with the flow of the water, manipulating it to dance with him. Yet the way she did it was just... So much more dazzling for she seemed to know what she was doing. He... He just liked the feeling and the motions.

Ignoring the blood splatter nearby him, luckily not being hit with any, Haku couldn't help but smirk at her. "Such elegency... If this wasn't a battle I would ask you on a date, my lady."

"Is that a proposal for I sure would like dinner after today." Karui grinned back at the Mist Yuki, placing her hand on her hip and attempting to sway her body in such a fashion to draw his attention.

However it was at that moment two senbon by her now airborne sword and pierced into a man behind her while her sword struck another just behind Haku. Both simply looked at each other a moment longer before Haku drew Karui's sword from the corpse and tossed it to her. "We should get back to work..."

"Yeah..." Karui muttered before her she suddenly sliced her blade behind her only for it to come into contact with... A blade of ice?

Attempting a few more slashes, which were simply blocked, she slid back before Haku quickly came to her side with narrowed eyes. "Yuki Zegram... I did not expect you to come out here yourself."

"And I would not have... If the situation had not changed. Now we have a way out... A way to save our clan." Zegrem grinned, lifting his blade before him and held it at the ready. "I would suggest the two of you retreat... For while you may have skills I will best you within them... For few swordsmen can match me and the Icebrand and there is no one in our clan that is capable of defeating me... My little stray."

Their eyes widened as he held the blade towards them while a heavy and freezing mist began to sink in behind him, covering the streets and blocking their vision. "En garde."

* * *

As a nearly earth shattering boom filled the western half of the village, Samui was ready to strangle her partner as she had wanted to stay as silent as long possible for a little while so not as much attention was drawn to them. She was much better when there wasn't something that went boom before her!

"What in god's name was that for?" Samui screamed out at Ryuu, ready to take his head for such a stupid act. "We need to get further into the village before we draw attention to us!"

"What for?" Ryuu simply responded as the rubble behind him went up once more, just to make sure he got everyone's attention. "I heard nothing about sneaking as far as we can. All I heard was to cause as much disturbance as possible so that everyone will be drawn in our direction allowing Naruto and Zabuza to sneak in and take care of Zegram."

Wanting to storm off in frustration as he was just as stubborn and hard-head as Naruto, Samui loudly groaned as she rubbed her temples. It wasn't even midday yet and she was already getting a migrane because of this asshole! "Fine! Have it your way but I'm going to sneak around behind them!"

Shrugging his shoulders as he perferred to take his enemies head on, Ryuu didn't even bother to watch as Samui quickly made her way to the back street. It was benefital to him if he didn't know where she was as that would mean that there was no way he could give away her position.

So Ryuu simply went back to the rubble of the street behind him and began searching through the rubble, looking for something in particular. That was the sight the Yuki were greated to as they arrived to see what in the world happened. "What took you so long? I was waiting a whole five minutes here!"

They kept their ground, waiting for him to make the first move as they slowly moved to surround him. At this, Ryuu grinned as he counted all of that came and saw there was ten. Digging his blade into he ground for a moment, he suddenly drove a rock out and towards the closest before him.

Thinking the kid was absolutely insane, the elite in front moved to side step the rock when to his horror it burst into flames, engulfing him and the men standing at his side. He yelled in pain as the flames got into his eyes but he still managed to jump back as he heard the boy closing in on his position and just missed having his lower half being sliced off and instead only took a slash.

His friends weren't so lucky as the blade went through them with little difficulty, but it wasn't over as he heard one last word from the kid before he realized it was too late. "Kaboom."

Blood and body parts splattered upon Ryuu as the elite before him went up in flames, Ryuu used the looked and gave the rest standing a crazed gaze. "Who's next?"

To his surprise, his fear factor worked and they ran away in fear of him. Ryuu almost had to scratch his head as he couldn't think why they would run after he only killed three, though he didn't know he had just mauled three elites like they were nothing and that was what they were frightened about.

"What an interesting sword you have there? I've never seen a blade that is imbued with blast chakra before. ...The Sword Master must only create blades like that for those he truly sees something in." A voice spoke from behind Ryuu.

Turning around to see his enemy, Ryuu's eyes widened as he took a step back as a lone figure with a great hunched back appeared before him in a black cloak. "You would get along great with my partner... He loves it when things go boom."

"Akasuna no Sasori..." Ryuu hissed under his breath, holding his blade before him and focusing his entire attention onto the mishapened man. "I'm flattered that someone of your skill would be sent after a chunin like me. Someone out there must think highly of my skills."

His face fell hearing a dark, almost mechanical chuckle from the man before him, who was now shaking his head and doing little to contain his laughter. "By all means... Believe what you want. I'm simply here to cause a distraction of my own so my partner can take our true target and take out his vendetta against the vessel."

Stiffening, Ryuu's eyes bulged in and out of proportion for he immediately knew why the infamous missing ninja of the Sand was doing there. He was after Naruto... And what was frightening was that he had a partner.

And he highly doubted that this partner of his would bode well for the Uzumaki.

"You better survive this Uzumaki... For we have a score to settle." Ryuu growled and began channeling chakra into his blade, ready to strike at a moments notice only to swear the man before him was smirking. "But in order for that to happen... I have to survive this..."

"SO LET'S GO WILD, BITCH!" He yelled just before the very air before him erupted into a massive burst of flames and debris.

* * *

"Looks like everything is going according to plan." Naruto muttered to Zabuza, stopping for a moment to check the detail of the guards still located within the center of the village. "Ten strong are planted firmly in front of the door, another five are on the roof and there still those on patrol bring the total number to twenty five."

"Taking them out won't be easy. These guys are good and without cover I'm not able to properly use my Silent Killing technique. I can still take them and give you some time to slip in behind them but I can't guarenette that I can focus all of their attention onto me." Zabuza grunted back, slightly impressed by the blonde's sensory and had to verify his count with his eyes. "Damn... A sensor too? You're just a jack of all trades."

"No... I specialize in physical combat, particularly taijutsu and every Cloud shinobi is trained with a blade so I'm fluent there too. My ninjutsu for the most part is to augment my close range speciality while I keep a good few for a long range arsenal incase they are needed. Sensory just happens to be something that is natural for me since I have never once worked on it." Naruto explained while keeping a track of the guards positions, to make sure no one snuck up behind them.

'However... That man. I didn't even feel his presense before he took Rika... Maybe I should train it when I return home. If he could hide from me that means others can to.' Naruto solemnly thought, letting Rika's passing cross his mind for a moment before pushing it to the side.

"Zabuza... I might have genjutsu that would allow you to use your Silent Killing without the mist however I do have to admit these guys will most likely throw it off rather quickly." Naruto commented while he ignored the slight twitch in the swordsman's nonexistant eyebrow.

Grumbling, still upset that things seemed to come natural for the damn blonde, Zabuza simply nodded in response. "It's better than nothing right now. If you can recast it a few times to keep it up for a while longer I might be able to dwindle their numbers down till the point that I can handle all on my own."

Closing his eyes, focusing onto their positions and their signatures, Naruto went through a few quick handseals and molded his chakra like he needed to. Genjutsu never came easy for him but he was able to use a few techniques that he found useful. However this would be a test for he never had to focus on so many before.

"Go."

Zabuza didn't need Naruto to tell him for he noted the patroling Yuki stumble and knew the illusion to have been cast. He noted that when the Uzumaki closed his eyes that genjutsu was something that did not come naturally to him and knew he had to hurry, knowing a second cast was all he could hope for.

The patrol never heard him coming, having mastered how to sprint without making so much as a sound. His sword tore through his spinal cord, severing the top half of his body from his lower before quickly moving from the thud the corpse would make. While everyone was currently sightless they still could react to sound and would probably litter the spot with projectiles.

He wasn't disappointed for they knew there was an attacker and they did such but at that time he stormed the ninja at the door, going to take care of them first to clear Naruto's path into the sanctuary and let him deal with Zegram. With two slices, five of the Yuki fell without so much as a clue to what happened.

Yet the others quickly moved from the spot, releasing the genjutsu and hoping to see their attacker. However two more fell, their blood splattering onto the ground before they finally caught side of a grinning Zabuza holding his head cleaving sword on his shoulder. "Well, I was hoping for a second but I can deal with you guys. You are cannon fodder compared to another Yuki I know. He could wipe the floor with all of you."

Suddenly and blast of hot air and wave of debris forced his attention to shift, seeing the Uzumaki roll from the flames before bringing his blade before him to combat this new threat.

Naruto had to admit, he had barely caught wind of the attack until the very last second. The chakra had been so insignificant at first he deemed it was simply a mouse or something. However there was something odd with it and just as he was about to finish the second casting he realized what it felt like.

It was like an explosive tag... But it was moving straight for him.

But when his eyes came to the direction the attack, everything seemed to slow down for him. He recognized that face... Those hands. That cloak... He knew who this man was and...

He did not feel he deserved to even look at the man any longer for he was the only one that could possibly be hurting more then he was over Rika's death.

"It seems we have some business, Uzumaki. I'll be taking you in now, yeah." Deidara sneered as he stood on the building before Naruto, multiple clay birds circling around him, while an aura of dread poured from his very being and onto Naruto.

"But first... I'm going to make you suffer for killing my daughter!"

* * *

**A/N**: Sorry for yet another long wait for this update but I lost track and wasn't sure I wanted to end the chapter like I did. Also since my beta is having problems I wasn't able to have this chapter edited so sorry for many of the mistakes that I'm sure are present.

Anyways, not much else to say and if you have any questions about the chapter or the story as a whole let me know and I'll get to them as fast as I can. Also don't expect a quick update for I have to use a library computer to update and occasionally have to handwrite chapters... And my freehand sucks.

Peace Out.


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